By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

ONE of the hottest teams in the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup, the Alaska Aces trek back to the court today against the Phoenix Fuel Masters with an eye on extending their winning run which now stands at four games.

Following a 0-2 start to the season-opening tournament of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), the Aces have made a complete turnaround in their games after to put themselves in the top three in the standings midway into the race.

They now focus their attention in adding the Fuel Masters (3-3) to their list of victims when they collide in the main game set for 7 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Alaska comes into game fresh from their conquest of the Blackwater Elite last Saturday, beating the latter, 88-84.

The Aces played in said game sans star forward Calvin Abueva who excused himself to attend to a “family emergency.”

But while Alaska was without one of their stalwarts, it still handled the situation well, standing their ground, particularly on the defensive end, and taking head-on the challenge that the Elite presented.

Chris Banchero and Vic Manuel paced the Aces with 16 points apiece and the two combining for 13 boards.

Kevin Racal had 14 points and rookie Jeron Teng finished with 10 points, three of which came in a crucial juncture late in the match that helped preserve the win for the Aces.

“I love the defensive effort and energy that we showed tonight. And we look forward to sustaining it in our coming games,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton following their victory.

Looking to halt the streak of the Aces are the Fuel Masters, themselves coming off a big victory over the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings, 87-82, last Friday.

Willy Wilson led Phoenix in the victory, scoring 19 points, on 7-of-7 shooting, against his former team while adding five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Matthew Wright and Jeff Chan also had 19 points each to help push the Fuel Masters back on the winning track after losing their previous three matches.

The spirited play of Mr. Wilson incidentally won for him the player of the week honors, beating teammate Chan, Rain or Shine’s Maverick Ahanmisi, Alaska’s Banchero and Manuel, Magnolia’s Mark Barroca, San Miguel’s June Mar Fajardo, Ginebra’s LA Tenorio and Raymond Aguilar and GlobalPort’s Kelly Nabong and Jonathan Grey for the award.

Meanwhile playing in the curtain-raiser at 4:30 p.m. are the TNT KaTropa (3-3) and Kia Picanto (1-5).

Both teams are coming off losses in their previous games with TNT bowing to the Magnolia Hotshots, 91-83, last Saturday while the Picanto were pounded by the Meralco Bolts, 105-76, last Wednesday.

LA JOLLA — Australia’s Jason Day sank an 18-inch birdie putt on the sixth playoff hole Monday to defeat Sweden’s Alex Noren and win the US PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open.

Noren found the water with his second shot of the morning while Day placed his third inches from the cup to seal their fates.

Darkness halted their duel after five extra holes Sunday at Torrey Pines South Course after each finished 72 holes on 10-under par 278.

It was Day’s 11^th US PGA victory and his first since the 2016 Players Championship.

“It has been a long time coming,” Day said. “It’s special because I worked very hard in the off-season to get back in this position.”

The triumph came after Day withdrew from a Wednesday Pro-Am with back issues that had him wondering if he could even compete after an MRI on his back 10 days earlier.

“I was in Palm Springs and I threw it out,” Day said. “I’m always going to try to maintain and be on top of it.”

He found bulging discs that can hit nerves under the stress of shotmaking.

“When they get bigger they get closer to the nerve and I get shooting pains down my legs,” Day said. “I just have to keep my core strong and hopefully I’m out here battling when I’m 40 or 45.”

The playoff continued at the par-5 18^th hole, which both players birdied three times earlier in the playoff. They also parred 16 and 17 once in Sunday’s late-day drama.

On Monday, Day pulled his tee shot well right to begin the sixth playoff hole while Noren found the edge of the short rough left of the fairway.

Noren blasted his second shot onto the raised green but the ball rolled back into a water hazard, prompting Day to leave his second shot short of the water.

“I’m not regretting my decision. It’s just margins,” said Noren, a nine-time European Tour winner seeking his first US triumph.

“I had the perfect yardage to the pin with the 3-wood, 230 meters. I had the advantage I thought. If I hit a good one it would hit the back of the green. If I hit it short it would be perfect.”

Day rolled his approach inside of two feet from the cup, forcing Noren to try and hole his 40-yard pitch and run shot for birdie. He ran the ball well past, missed a long par putt and took the bogey before Day’s victory tap-in.

“We just had to stay patient,” Day said. “My goal is to get to number one and this is a start in the right direction.

“I’ve just got to take it in right now. I was up all night thinking about trying to get that 11^th win.”

‘IT’S A GOOD DAY ANYWAY’
World number 14 Day’s US title total, topped by his 2015 PGA Championship title, also includes the 2015 Torrey Pines crown, putting him alongside such two-time winners as Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson.

Only Phil Mickelson with three wins and Tiger Woods with eight have won more often at the famed California course. Woods continued his latest comeback from nagging back injuries at the event, sharing 23^rd.

World number 19 Noren’s runner-up finish was his best in a US event.

“I like playing over here. I know what to expect more now,” he said. “That’s my goal, to win in these conditions. I learned a lot. I’m proud of myself for stepping up when it got tough. It’s a good day anyway.”

Day and Noren were joined in the playoff by American Ryan Palmer, who was eliminated with a par at the first playoff hole, 18.

No spectators were permitted on the course to see the finish of the tournament, organizers citing security reasons with only 12 course marshals available to handle the resumption.

It was the third playoff in as many weeks on the PGA Tour, all of them at least four holes and two of them lasting at least six. — AFP

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

WHAT was an historic and spirited run in the 2018 AFC Champions League qualifiers for local side Ceres-Negros FC came to an end yesterday after it fell, 2-0, to Tianjin Quanjian FC in their final preliminary round qualifying match in China.

While it hardly played like a team that had little time to acclimatize to the conditions in Tianjin after getting there just 12 hours before game time, still the home team, boosted by its star players, proved to be a tough nut to crack throughout the match as it went on to advance to the group stages of the AFC Champions League while eliminating the “Busmen.”

Showing that it was not only at the Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium to go through the motions but to go all-out and compete, Ceres, which had its arrival delayed after having trouble getting visas to travel to China, got the home team working early with good ball movement.

Sun Ke got Tianjin in scoring position in the 11^th minute but his shot went off and failed to hit the mark.

Not to be outdone, Ceres put itself in a spot to score when Stephan Schrock narrowly missed the goal in the 12^th minute.

As the opening half progressed, Tianjin grew more confident, unrelentingly testing the defense of Ceres.

It eventually broke through in the 19^th minute when Frenchman Anthony Modeste headed the ball into the goal off a corner to give his team the upper hand.

Tianjin tried to build on the cushion with more aggressiveness in its attack but Ceres’ defense would hold its own to keep its deficit to a manageable one point by the halftime break.

With the outcome of the match still open, the two teams started the second fold aggressively, trying to create opportunities for early goals.

The home team though would beat Ceres anew to the punch, with Mr. Modeste beating the defense to score anew at the 57^th minute off a pass from teammate Alexandre Pato.

Tianjin continued to put pressure on Ceres with Mr. Pato nearly adding another goal at the 69^th minute.

Despite being buried in a hole in the wind-up, Ceres kept fighting with Mr. Schrock and Bienvenido Maranon trying to make things happen.

The Chinese team stayed firm and on top of things the rest of the way and booked the victory.

With the win, Tianjin earned a spot in Group E of the Group Stage of the AFC Champions League along with South Korea’s Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC, Hong Kong’s Kitchee SC and another qualifier from the East Region bracket.

For Ceres, the Philippines Football League inaugural champion, the defeat saw its “head-turning” ways in the tournament end.

Not highly regarded as the other competing teams in the preliminary round, it went on to beat Myanmar’s Shan United in the first round and then upset Brisbane Roar in the second round to come within one win of making further history in the Champions League.