MANILA — With five players saddled by an assortment of injuries, the Petron Blaze Boosters still had enough firepower to gut out a come-from-behind 96-90 victory against the Barako Bull Energy Cola Wednesday night in the PLDT MyDSL PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Marcio Lassiter poured 27 points to lead the Boosters to their fourth straight win, remaining as the only undefeated team and keeping a tight lock of solo leadership in the conference. The Boosters entered the match with just nine players as Chris Lutz (sore quadriceps) joined injured players Alex Cabagnot (torn plantar), Chris Ross (hamstring), Ronald Tubid (knee), and Yousef Taha (knee) on sick bay. The Energy Cola raced to an early lead and appeared to be in control of the match until Lassiter caught fire in the third quarter as the Boosters cut the deficit to just a basket, 73-71, going into the final quarter. The Boosters grabbed the lead in the payoff period as they limited the Energy Cola to just three points in the first six-and-a-half minutes of the fourth quarter. At the same time, Lassiter and Paolo Hubalde combined for 10 of Petron's last 12 points to finally vanquish the hard-fighting Barako Bull. Arwind Santos added 19 points while June Mar Fajardo dominated the paint as usual with 11 points, 22 rebounds, and five blocks. Hubalde scored a personal conference-high 15 points while Chico Lanete played hurt but still managed to contribute 10 points. Barako Bull suffered its second straight loss after winning its first two matches, tying Meralco at fifth to sixth place in the standings. Barako Bull drew balanced scoring from 11 of its players with JC Intal leading tallying a team-high 11 points. Willie Miller, Mark Macapagal and Ronjay Buenafe scored 10 points each. Alaska 97, Air21 91 OT In a battle of two teams coming off heart-breaking overtime losses in their last game, the Alaska Aces managed to come out on top with a 97-91 victory, also in overtime, over the luckless and still winless Air21 Express. Both hungry for a win, the two squads fought tooth and nail but the breaks of the game eventually went to the Aces who improved to a 2-3 win-loss card, good for solo seventh place in the standings. The Express suffered its fifth loss in as many games and remained glued at the bottom. Struggling in Alaska's previous games, sophomore Calvin Abueva finally found his shooting touch as he scored 11 of his 19 points in the final quarter and overtime period. Alaska's former super rookie also had 11 rebounds and four assists in his best game for the season. New Alaska rookie Ping Exciminiano stole some of the limelight from Abueva, scoring 16 points, including 4-of-4 from beyond the arc. RJ Jazul also shone for Alaska, scoring seven of his team's 17 points in overtime. He finished with 13 points. Gabby Espinas chipped in 11 points and 11 rebounds for Alaska. Air 21 had at least two chances to break into the win column. But KG Canaleta and Mac Cardona missed shots that could have been the winning basket. Canaleta led the Express with 22 points but was held scoreless in overtime. Vic Manuel played solidly, finishing with 20 points and 12 rebounds, in a losing effort for Air21. Games Friday: Meralco Bolts vs. GlobalPort and Rain or Shine vs. San Mig.
