Aces make it 4-0 vs. Giants this season

ANTIPOLO CITY. -- Joe Devance scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half and saved Alaska from a fourth quarter meltdown in the face of a fierce charge by the Purefoods TJ Giants, who remained winless against the Aces this season.
The Aces never trailed and led by as many 16 points in the third but their offense went cold early in the fourth and the Giants capitalized, pulling within 63-65 on a three-pointer by Kerby Raymundo with still 8:35 remaining.

But Devance, who made nine of 16 shots, scored six points to spark a 10-3 run that kept the Giants at bay and secured Alaska’s 80-74 victory – their second straight and fourth in 10 games in the Motolite PBA Fiesta Conference.

“The guys are a lot more careful in the game in terms of following the game plan,” said Alaska coach Tim Cone afterwards. “This is a good weekend for us. With this win and last Friday against Barako Bull. Hopefully this will allow us to pick some momentum.”

Rosell Ellis turned in 20 points and 13 rebounds for his sixth double-double this conference, Jeffrey Cariaso added 10 and LA Tenorio dished off eight assists for the Aces, who are now 4-0 against the Giants this season.

Both teams shot poorly in the first half of the lowest scoring game this conference although Alaska managed to score in spurts once in a while enabling it to post a 22-9 lead late in the opening quarter and build on from there.

Alaska shot 41 percent for the game (32-of-78) while Purefoods made just 28 of 75 shots (37 percent).

The Giants also committed 21 turnovers, five more than the Aces, who scored 16 points on those miscues. The Aces enjoyed a 20-3 edge on fastbreak points.

Peter Jun Simon came off the bench and scored a team-high 20 points for Purefoods. Jahmar Thorpe had 20 points and 15 rebounds for his second straight double-double, Kerby Raymundo added 15 and James Yap had 11 for the Giants, who had their two-game winning streak snapped and fell to a 4-4 (win-loss) record. (DBC)

The scores:

Alaska 80 - De Vance 22, Ellis 20, Cariaso 10, Tenorio 9, Hugnatan 6, Miller 6, Dela Cruz 4, Thoss 3, Fonacier 0, Ferriols 0, Cablay 0.

Purefoods 74 - Simon 20, Thorpe 16, Raymundo 15, Yap J. 11, Villanueva 5, Adducul 3, Alvarez 2, Yap R. 2, Vergara 0, Canaleta 0, Robinson 0.

Quarterscores: 22-14, 37-28, 61-54, 80-74.


Source: http://www.pba.ph/content/view/2587/1/