Aces survive Kings, 93-91, face Texters in Final 4

There was no miracle comeback for Ginebra. Not at the expense of one of the proudest franchises in Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) history. Not at the expense of the league’s winningest coach. Diamon Simpson found himself unmolested underneath the basket and banked in an easy lay up with five seconds left as the Aces hang tough for 93-91 win over the Kings and clinched the last semifinals berth in the Fiesta Cup Sunday night at the packed Big Dome.

The Alaska import was left open after Rudy Hatfield decided to help and double team Joe DeVance from the right corner, and the 6-foot-7 Fil-Am was quick to capitalize and dumped the ball to Simspon for the lay in and the go-ahead basket, 92-91. The Kings had five seconds left to complete a game-winning play, but Eric Menk, harassed by Simpson and Cyrus Baguio, fumbled the ball at the post and completely lost possession, signaling the end of what had been a roller-coaster season for the league’s crowd darling. The Aces wrapped up the quarterfinals series, 3-2, but needed to weather Ginebra’s searing comeback after being down, 0-2, early in the best-of-five affair. Alaska now advances to the semifinals opposite top seeded team Talk `N Text. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series starts on Wednesday. “I’m really sorry that there’s one team which had to lose in this game," said Alaska’s Tim Cone, the coach with the most number of wins in PBA annals. “This is just an incredible series and it’s a pity that one team has to lose tonight." L.A. Tenorio topscored for the Aces with 25 points and was 4-of-8 from three-point range, the last of which shoved the Aces to a 90-84 lead with 2:14 remaining in the do-or-die Game 5. But the Kings regrouped and came up with one final push, scoring seven straight points, capped by a big JayJay Helterbrand three-pointer off a steal, to give Ginebra a 91-90 lead in the last 28 seconds amidst chants of Ginebra! Ginebra! Ginebra! from a crowd of 21,062 at the Araneta Coliseum. Coming off a time out, Alaska almost lost control of the ball, but patiently worked on their offense until DeVance found Simpson under the basket for the game-winning play. Simpson added 24 for the Aces and Baguio torched his former team with 22 points. The Kings, who led by as many as 24-13 late in the first quarter, was led by the 19 of Willie Miller, who embraced Cone, his former coach, at center court shortly after the game. - RCJ, GMANews.TV