Texters score 12th straight win

Talk ‘N Text encountered a stiff challenge from Alaska before holding on for a 76-75 escape to extend its winning run to 12 games Wednesday night in the KFC-Philippine Basketball Association Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Tropang Texters had to watch Joe Devance miss a potential game-winning 3-point attempt in the dying seconds to get away with the win and clinch a playoff for 1 of the 2 automatic semis seats.

“Alaska did a great job in stopping our fast breaks,” said TNT head coach Chot Reyes as they improved to a league-best 13-2 mark. “But we made stops when it mattered.”

The Aces rallied to get a 70-66 edge when Jimmy Alapag waxed hot and hit 2 straight triples to take a 76-70 lead with 3:19 minutes remaining.

But Cyrus Baguio converted a 3-pointer and Diamon Simpson added 2 free throws to push the Aces within a point, 75-76, 24.1 ticks left.

Alapag turned the ball over in the next play and Jeff Cariaso, who came out from retirement, missed a wide-open 17-footer.

Alaska retained the possession with 1.5 seconds left and Devance was also given a clean look behind the rainbow territory but his attempt was short as the final buzzer sounded.

Ryan Reyes paced TNT with 12 points while Shawn Daniels added 11 points and 21 rebounds. Alapag had 11 points and 7 assists.

Simpson tallied 30 points and 19 rebounds to lead Alaska, which fell to 8-6.