1995 Alaska Milkmen season

1995 Alaska Milkmen season
Head coach	Tim Cone
All-Filipino Cup results Record 14–12 (.538) Place 2nd Playoff finish Finals Commissioner's Cup results Record 15–9 (.625) Place 2nd Playoff finish Finals Governors Cup results Record 17–8 (.680) Place 1st Playoff finish Finals Alaska Milkmen seasons 1994 1996

The 1995 Alaska Milkmen season was the 10th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Draft picks

PBA Draft
Jeffrey Cariaso (6th overall pick) ^Alaska shipped Bong Solomon to Ginebra to acquire their draft rights
Giovanni Pineda (8th overall pick)

Summary

All-Filipino Cup: The Milkmen started their season losing their first four games and were the last team to enter the semifinal round by winning their last four remaining matches in the eliminations for an even 5-win, 5-loss card. In the semifinals, Alaska earn a playoff for a second finals berth via win-5 of 8 games, following a 102-92 win over Purefoods on the last day of the semifinal round on May 2, three nights later on May 5, Alaska finally ended Purefoods' run of seven consecutive finals appearance in an All-Filipino tournament, with a 115-89 rout. ^[1] The Milkmen played the Sunkist Orange Juicers (formerly Swift last season) for the second straight time in a championship series, this time for the All-Filipino Cup crown. Their title series went all the way to a Game 7 and Alaska was so close of repeating as champions if not for Vergel Meneses' heroics in the regulation period, the deciding game went into overtime and the Milkmen lost to the Juicers, 78-87.

Commissioner's Cup: Alaska brought in Derrick Hamilton, who last played for the Pepsi Hotshots back in 1990, as their import. After scoring just 21 points in his debut where the Milkmen lost to Sta.Lucia, 97-101 in overtime, Hamilton bounce back to score 40 points in his next game as Alaska scored its first win against his former team Pepsi Mega, 113-106 on June 13. The Milkmen raced to a 4-win, 2-loss start, handed the San Miguel Beermen their first loss in five games in a 102-101 win on June 27. ^[2] The Milkmen were third behind Sunkist and Sta.Lucia after the eliminations. In the one-round quarterfinals, Alaska and Sta.Lucia ended up tied with 10 wins and 5 losses and they played each other in the best-of-five semifinal series. The Realtors had beaten the Milkmen in three meetings in the conference prior to their series, but Alaska surprisingly had an easier time scoring a 3-0 sweep and march into their fourth straight finals appearance, they went on to play the Sunkist Orange Juicers for the third consecutive time in a championship series. The Milkmen ended up bridesmaid for the second straight conference, losing to Sunkist in six games.

Governors Cup: Sean Chambers return anew and the Alaska Milkmen are ready to defend the title they won from last season. The Grandslam-seeking Sunkist and Alaska were on top of the standings after the eliminations and looks headed for a fourth encounter in the championship round. On November 14, the Milkmen gave the Orange Juicers their worst defeat in the semifinals, a 115-91 win, ^[3] two weeks later on November 28, with the first finals berth at stake, Alaska repeated over Sunkist, 111-105, for their 13th victory in 17 games and advances into their fifth straight finals stint dating back to last season's Commissioner's Cup. ^[4] The Milkmen watch the Juicers stumbled and lost their last three semifinal outings while giving the San Miguel Beermen a free ride to the championship series. Alaska retains the Governor's Cup title with a 4-3 series win over San Miguel, winning the final two games.

Roster

Pos. No. Player School G 4 Merwin Castelo San Beda G 5 Gilbert Reyes Ateneo de Manila G 6 Jojo Lastimosa San Jose-Recoletos G 7 Rosedendo Gomez Cebu Central Colleges C 12 Richard Bachmann De La Salle G 14 Johnny Abarrientos FEU F 16 Rene Hawkins Perpetual Help College F 22 Jeffrey Cariaso Sonoma State College C 24 Cris Bolado National University C 31 Giovanni Pineda Adamson University C 32 Edward Juinio UP-Diliman C 50 Alejandro Araneta Ateneo de Manila F 54 Dondon Ampalayo San Jose-Recoletos F 3 Derrek Hamilton (C) University of Southern Mississippi G 20 Sean Chambers (G) California Polytechnic State University Position Name/s Head coach:  Tim Cone Assistants: Joel Banal / Aric Del Rosario Commissioner's Cup import - (C), Governor's Cup import - (G) '

_{Team Manager: Joaqui Trillo}

References

1. Alaska bumps Purefoods off All-Pinoy finals
2. Alaska stops San Miguel, ties victim at 2nd
3. Alaska shatters Sunkist streak
4. Alaska reaches Governor's Cup finals