FOR A while it seems Alaska has finally solved the NLEX puzzle Monday.
Until Kiefer Ravena and Larry Fonacier led the Road Warriors who once again cast their spell over the Aces to the tune of a 105-99 victory for the headstart in their PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals series at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Another win Wednesday and NLEX would wrap up the best-of-three duel and realize its first-ever semi-finals stint.
Road Warriors coach Yeng Guiao was quick to caution his team about taking the Aces more lightly following the win which was their fifth straight over the Uytengsu-owned franchise.
"We won this game, but the bad news is we have to go through a harder time on Wednesday," said Guiao.
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"This series is not yet over. We have the advantage, but ... Alaska, they've been through a lot more difficult situations and they've come out of those pretty good," added Guiao.
"So we go back to practice tomorrow, see where we can improve on our game knowing Alaska will come back harder."
Good thing the Road Warriors had Ravena, who capped his game-high 25 points with 12 in the fourth quarter, including a loose ball recovery off a jump ball and resulting layup that gave NLEX a 100-96 lead, 18.8 seconds left.
That practically sealed it for the Road Warriors. Simon Enciso's triple brought the Aces within 99-101, but Ravena and Kevin Alas sealed the outcome with charities.
Ravena also issued eight assists, the last one to Michael Miranda underneath for a layup that shattered the game's fourth and last deadlock and pushed NLEX ahead for good 98-96.
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Fonacier, who became just the 11th player to breach the 800 Triples club, also merited special mention from Guiao after the latter scored 18 points laced by a completed four-point play that pegged the game's last tie at 96, still 2:40 to go.
"That's really crucial," said Guiao. "That's the point in the game where we thought we could win it."
Chris Banchero had 20 points, Calvin Abueva 18 and 13 rebounds while, Enciso and Vic Manuel also finished in double figures for Alaska, which trailed by as many as 11 points but came charging back in the second half to even lead by 84-79.
But Fonacier, Miranda and Ravena simply would not let NLEX be derailed in its bid.(NC)
