MANILA — The “Beast” is back with a vengeance. Springing from his hospital bed following a nasal viral infection, super-rookie Calvin “The Beast” Abueva wasted little time to once again impose his will on the hardcourt, finishing with a double-double game of 20 points and 18 rebounds Wednesday to power the Alaska Aces to a scintillating 88-85 victory against the hard-fighting Meralco Bolts in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Center. Abueva shot 7-of-14 from two-point range, went 6-of-8 from the foul line, and had three assists, two steals, one block, and numerous hustle plays in 36 minutes of action in his first game for the Aces since he was hospitalized more than a week ago. Alaska head coach gushed with admiration for Abueva, his prized rookie who had to be confined in a hospital for three days when he aggravated his nasal injury after he was struck in the face by Rob Reyes of Air21. “Calvin, he's all over the place … He's a winner … You can see what he brings to the table. He's not the biggest guy, but when you see him on the court, he has the biggest heart,” said Trillo. Cyrus Baguio ably backed Abueva with 19 points, while Sonny Thoss and Mac Baracael chipped in with 12 markers apiece. Their sixth victory in 12 games allowed the Aces to catch up with the Bolts at fifth to sixth place in the standings. MacMac Cardona and Chris Ross led Meralco with 14 points apiece. The Aces and Bolts fought ferociously from the start in a game marked by 13 deadlocks and 12 lead changes, and one that was not decided until the final buzzer. Two clutch triples from Baracael and JVee Casio in the last two minutes of the game sealed the win for the Aces. Casio's three-pointer knotted the count for the last time at 82-all. After the Bolts misfired on their offensive, Baracael sank a trey from the left flank to give Alaska an 85-82 lead with about a minute left. Once again the Bolts failed to score on their next possession and the Aces punished them with an easy winner from Baguio following a fastbreak play. Meralco forward Reynel Hugnatan countered with a three-point play to cut the Aces lead to two, 87-85. With only 9.5 seconds left, the Bolts tried to stop the clock by fouling Casio. The former Smart Gilas mainstay split his charities, giving Meralco one last chance to send the game into overtime. But Ronjay Buenafe missed a three-point shot. Cliff Hodge ran after the loose ball and upon grabbing it, fired from deep left. Abueva rose to block Hodge but fouled him instead. However, Hodge was not awarded what could have been three free throws since the referees ruled that the foul was committed after the final buzzer had sounded. In the main game, the Talk N Text Tropang Texters scored their 11th win in 13 games and grabbed the first twice-to-beat incentive in tournament with a masterful 95-82 thrashing of the Petron Blaze Boosters. Their seventh defeat in 13 games snapped the Boosters' three-game winning streak as Petron fell to solo seventh place in the rankings. Jayson Castro led the Texters with 23 points and eight rebounds. Arwind Santos carried the fight for the Boosters, but his 22 points and 11 rebounds were not enough to bail his team out of trouble.
