Aces fend off Batang Pier

Road warriors jolt beermen

MANILA, Philippines — With Robbie Herndon providing the endgame heroics, Alaska Milk ruined NorthPort’s grand entrance plan for high-profile trade acquisition Arwind Santos.

Herndon hit the go-ahead jumper with 30.1 seconds left as the Aces survived the Santos-led fourth-quarter storm and secured an 87-85 victory yesterday in the 46th PBA Governors’ Cup opener at the Ynares Sports Arena.

Herndon’s clutch bucket, along with Jeron Teng’s split with 6.3 ticks to go, lifted Alaska to the winning start despite squandering an 11-point lead early in the final canto.

“In any conference, you always want to start off on the right foot so we’ll take any win we can,” said Alaska coach Jeff Cariaso, noting his charges’ “rust” coming off the break.

Import Olu Ashaolu delivered 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Aces as he got the better of his matchup with Batang Pier counterpart Cameron Forte, who finished with 18 markers and 15 boards but spent majority of the final canto on the bench.

Teng backed Ashaolu up with 19 while Herndon fired 13 capped by the biggest shot of all.

Playing his first game since his celebrated trade from San Miguel Beer, the 40-year-old Santos posted eye-popping stats of a team-high 23 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four blocks off the bench.

As what he’s used to with SMB in their title run, Santos knocked down big shots after big shots in a 14-point effort in the payoff period to help the all-Filipino-playing NorthPort wipe out Alaska’s 76-65 margin.

Santos put NorthPort to within 83-81 then Greg Slaughter racked up four straight points via two free throws and a putback to power the Batang Pier to an 85-84 edge, 39.2 seconds left.

Herndon then sent Alaska back to the driver’s seat before Teng added a point to the cushion. Robert Bolick missed a pair of three-point heaves in between, allowing the Aces to escape.

Later in the night, NLEX stole the thunder from new-look San Miguel Beer, coming away victorious, 114-102.

The Road Warriors shifted to high gear in the second half to lay the foundation for the impressive beating of a rejigged SMB side that dismantled its “Death 5” core to get Vic Manuel and Simon Enciso.

Coach Yeng Guiao’s wards detonated an 11-0 bomb in the third period to seize a 77-64 tear and later stretched it to 112-94 going to the last three minutes of the fourth.

KJ McDaniels fired 27 to go with 11 rebounds  and six assists to lead five NLEX locals in double figures – Kevin Alas (12), Don Trollano (12), Philip Paniamogan (11), Jericho Cruz (10) and JR Quiñahan (10).

Manuel debuted for SMB with 17 to complement Brandon Brown’s 36 and June Mar Fajardo’s 20.

“Robbie has the knack for being able to score at the end of the shot clock, at the end of the game so you wanna put the ball in his hands,” said Cariaso of the Fil-Am sniper while also giving credit to Ashaolu and Abu Tratter for helping Herndon get open.

Meanwhile, four more teams launch their bids today with Terrafirma and Phoenix Super LPG battling at 3 p.m. and Blackwater and Rain or Shine duking it out at 6 p.m.

The Dyip parade former SMB ace Alex Cabagnot and debuting import Antonio Hester against the Fuel Masters, who acquired Sean Anthony and Sean Manganti during the break and enlisted Paul Harris as reinforcement.

The Bossing, meanwhile, unleash a revamped crew under new coach Ariel Vanguardia that now includes JVee Casio, Barkley Ebona, Will McAloney, Jay Washington, Rashawn McCarthy, Jhong Baloria, Val Chuaca and Mike Ayonayon.

The Elasto Painters, the top defensive team last conference, field import Henry Walker and trade acquisition Trevis Jackson.