Willie Miller knocked in a fall-away jumper off Arwind Santos with 1.7 seconds left to play and the sizzling Alaska Milk team stretched its streak to five games with an 86-84 squeaker over Air21 in the Smart PBA Fiesta Conference at the Cuneta Astrodome last night.
The Express had a chance to salvage the game but Santos missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer, enabling the Aces to escape with the win, thier seventh against six losses.
“Here we are a bit shocked. We’re 2-6 weeks before but look where we are now. Our players can’t believe it,” said Alaska coach Tim Cone as they kept their hot run going to gain a share of fourth place with Magnolia and Talk n Text.
“Suddenly, we now have a chance even at No. 1. There’s a chance and we’ll go for it,” said Cone, whose Aces are now just a game behind front-runners Red Bull (8-5) and Coca-Cola (8-5).
The Express bungled a crack at the solo lead and instead slid to third at 8-6.
Randy Holcomb, limited to four points in the first three quarters, scattered 13 in the payoff period, helping the Aces gain a nine-point lead before holding off the Express in the tight encounter marked by 11 lead changes and six deadlocks.
LA Tenorio came away with a career-tying six steals and also got 13 points, three rebounds and three assists for the Aces .
Miller, however, proved to be Alaska’s ace as he finished with 21 points punctuated by that game-winning basket in the dying seconds.
The two-time MVP winner stole the game away from Santos who took charge for the Express, coming through with 14 in the payoff period.
The former FEU stalwart banged in a three-pointer off Reynel Hugnatan, capping a 13-4 run that tied the count at 84-all with still 17.1 seconds to go.
Coming off a timeout, Alaska went to Miller, who played out the time before attacking Santos’ defense, stopping just after the free-throw line then taking a fade-away shot that swished through the net.
Though Holcomb went scoreless in the first half, Cone gave his import credit on his defensive effort on Steven Thomas.
“He kept on banging and banging Thomas, wearing him down in the end,” said Cone.