The Alaska Aces is scheduled for a best-of-seven finals Game 4 against the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok at 7:00 P.M. on December 12, 2018 live from the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Related:
- Alaska vs Magnolia Game 6
- Alaska vs Magnolia Game 5
- Alaska vs Magnolia Game 3
- Alaska vs Magnolia Game 2
- Alaska vs Magnolia Game 1
The Aces logged its first victory of the championship series but most importantly there is now a momentum shift as they head to Game 4 against the Hotshots.
In any basketball Finals series, there are times that head coach will try to experiment shuffling his roster in order to find someone that could surprise the opposing team.
Alaska head coach Alex Compton did that in Game 3 when he inserted Carl Bryan Cruz in the second quarter to spark the Aces run.
Cruz who was given 15 minutes of playing time didn’t disappoint his coach as he dropped 10 points plus throwing good defense in the opposite part of the court.
“He’s done the work all year,” Compton said. “Bryan’s been active in practice, listening, asking questions and working hard. I’m happy for him that he got his reward of playing so well. Really proud of him.”
Alaska won the game in a blowout fashion giving the Magnolia franchise its worst defeat in a championship round, 100-71.
Yet, for Alaska import Mike Harris, they hasn’t done anything yet.
“We haven’t done anything, we just prevented a sweep,” said Harris. “You enjoyed this tonight. They know we’re not going to quit and we know they’re not going to quit. This is one of those games that we needed to win and had they won this game, they’re going to Game 4 trying to close it.”
Harris was very instrumental especially in the third quarter where he scored 22 points. Magnolia has no answer for him and the lead continue to balloon as much as 36 points.
“We got to be prepared. In the locker room, it’s not a big celebration moment because we haven’t done anything. We just stop from going down 3-0,” said the former Utah Jazz player.
“This is a marathon, not a sprint,” he added.