Aces outlast Gins, gain playoff slot

Alaska Milk outmaneuvered Barangay Ginebra at the finish of their closely-fought encounter, hacking out an 87-81 win that assured the team of a playoff for an outright entry into the Gran Matador PBA Fiesta Conference quarterfinals at the Philsports Arena last night.

Galen Young, for one, outplayed Ginebra counterpart Torraye Braggs in the homestretch, delivering the baskets that helped clinch a closing 11-7 win-loss card for the Aces in the preliminary round.

That guaranteed Alaska a playoff for the right to join San Miguel Beer in an outright entry into the quarters although it won’t know its playoff rival until after the final twinbill in the prelims at the Araneta Coliseum tonight.

Coca-Cola and Red Bull hope to tie Alaska Milk and Talk n Text at 11-7 as the Tigers and the Thunder take on the Shell Turbochargers and the San Miguel Beermen, respectively.

In the eventuality of a four-way logjam, Alaska and Red Bull dispute the No. 2 spot while Coca-Cola and Talk n Text battle for No. 4.

In any case of a three-way tie, Alaska is also assured of a playoff for No. 2 on the strength of a superior quotient.

With a closing 7-11 record, Ginebra, meanwhile, may end up seventh or eighth.

To Purefoods went the shameful dead-last tag in the preliminary round.

FedEx avoided the horrors of finishing 10th and last in the double-round prelims and handed it to Purefoods as the Express walloped the Hotdogs, 116-102, earlier in the night.

FedEx finished ninth with a 5-13 win-loss card and Purefoods 10th with a 4-14 record.

Missing the Top Eight, FedEx and Purefoods both face a disadvantageous twice-to-win task in the wildcard plays to make it to the quarterfinals. The Express and the Hotdogs play the eventual No. 4 and No. 3 teams, respectively.

Pounding Purefoods’ half-hearted showing, FedEx, for all intents and purposes, had the game under wraps right at the half, 62-40.

"I have to give it to the boys," said coach Joe Lipa after his Express churned out their best game in the conference thus far.

"We just don’t care who we face (in the wildcard plays). We’ll just take advantage of a week rest and for sure, we’ll not give it on a silver platter," Lipa also said.

Mike Maddox led all scorers with 23 points although it was Roger Yap who started it all with 13 points in the first quarter.

Yap and the Express jumped the gun on the Hotdogs, taking a 29-15 lead at the end of the opening period.

Maddox, Renren Ritualo and Vergel Meneses took over form Yap in the second period and the Express dropped more vicious runs as they stretched their lead to 22 at the turn.

Maddox capped their assault in the second quarter with a booming three-pointer in the closing seconds.

Aside from Maddox and Yap with 22, three other FedEx players scored in double figures with Meneses firing 16, Ritualo 11 and Jerry Codinera 10.

Meanwhile, FedEx-San Juan plays Shell-Manila and Talk n Text-Quezon City battles Purefoods-Taguig in the semifinals of the PBA juniors tournament today at the Big Dome. The title match is set on June 6 in the same venue.