Despite trailing most of the way, the Aces waged a good fight and stayed in contention until Miller made a five-point binge on two huge buzzer-beaters, pushing the Thunder 10 points up at 85-75 entering the last two minutes of the contest.
The 5-foot-10 guard out of Letran first fired a triple then sank a running two-pointer that took the fight out of the Aces and sent the Thunder to their second straight win following an 81-69 demolition of the Barangay Ginebra Kings on opening day. That enabled the reigning titlist to catch Coca-Cola and Talk N Text atop the leaderboard.
"Alaska is one of the teams which I think would contend for the title. That’s why I believe the game is a good gauge to measure our strength," said Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao.
Alaska coach Tim Cone, meanwhile, thought Red Bull simply exploited their lack of cohesion as the Aces failed to follow up their 77-69 debut over San Miguel Beer Tuesday.
"Red Bull is familiar with its old imports and they’re playing very much together. My team, meanwhile, had good individual players but didn’t do it well as a team because we’re not yet familiar with each other’s game," said Cone.
True enough, the Thunder played more as a team with four of them finishing in double-figures. Tony Lang scored 19 points in the first half and totaled a team-high 27 with Julius Nwosu adding 18. Davonn Harp 16 and Miller 11.
RP Selecta bounced back from an 81-85 heart-breaker to Barangay Ginebra Friday with a 74-62 win over San Miguel in the second game.
The Beermen suffered a second straight loss as new import Art Long, who took over Jermaine Tate, limped out of the court with an injury early in the third quarter.