MANILA: The Smart Gilas Nationals played with great composure especially in the homestretch to cut down the Alaska Aces in overtime 91-89 Friday night in the PBA Commissioner's Cup, proving to doubters that they are indeed a playoff if not title contender. The Nationals earlier debuted with a win against another top-rated squad, the Philippine Cup champion Talk N Text Tropang Texters. Marcus Douthit scattered 23 points and pulled down 19 rebounds as Smart Gilas joined the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at the top of the standings. Chris Tiu also had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds while Marcio Lassiter, Chris Lutz and Andy Barroca chipped in with at least 10 points each. Alaska slid to third place in the rankings with a 2-1 win-loss card. LA Tenorio top-scored for Alaska with 22 points. In the first match of Friday's doubleheader at the Araneta Coliseum, import Ira Brown hit a buzzer-beating follow-up shot to lift the San Miguel Beermen to a 90-89 win against the Meralco Bolts. Ironically, it was Brown's last game for San Miguel which earlier decided to replace him with David Young, a veteran of the Chinese league. Brown finished with 18 points and 10 boards The Beermen thus broke into the win column after an upset loss to the Air21 Express who then agreed to trade their top three rookies to four San Miguel veterans.
