Pinoy Basketball Fan

The Tropang Texters did nothing right Saturday and the Aces feasted on it on the way to a 113-86 blowout in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup at the San Juan Arena.

Joe Devance scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Sonny Thoss tallied 13 of his 17 points in the first quarter to spark a strong start by the Aces, who recovered from Wednesday’s 88-92 loss against Rain or Shine and improved its league-best record to 9-3.

Alaska’s point total was its highest this conference and its 27-point margin of victory was also the biggest for the team in the tournament since its 88-60 victory over Purefoods in the previous Fiesta Conference last May 31 at the Ynares Center.

“It’s a little bit shocking. But I’m proud of our guys because we’re coming off a tough loss,” said Cone whose team became the fastest to reach its 700^th win in league history and third to achieve the feat overall after San Miguel Beer and Ginebra.

“I see it so many times in my career… everything goes right for us and everything goes wrong for them. It was just one of those nights. I’ve experienced that as a coach on the other end and its always nice to be at this end of it … the winning end of it,” he added.

Alaska shot 64 percent from the field (27-of-42) in the first half that ended with the Aces enjoying a 64-31 cushion that held on the rest of the way.

Talk ‘N Text’s performance was a complete nightmare and it might take a while before coach Chot Reyes could figure out what went wrong with his troops. He even decided to just sit out his starters in the fourth period.

Team owner Manny Pangilinan, who watched the game at ringside, didn’t bother to finish the game, quickly leaving after the first half.

It was the worst loss by the franchise since its 113-85 decision against Alaska in Game 1 of the 2007 Fiesta Conference Finals.

The five-day break appeared to have turned the Tropang Texters rusty. They defended poorly, was slow on transition and shot horribly.

TNT shot just 29 percent (12-of-41) in the first half and finished the game with 41 percent clip (34-of-83).   

In contrast, Alaska, which was averaging only 89.6 points a game in the conference, already had 95 after only three quarters.

“Tonight we did what we had to do. Tony (dela Cruz) and Jeff (Cariaso) did a tremendous defensive job on (Mark) Cardona. He was our target and I thought we did a great job on him,” said Cone.

Cardona, the conference’s leading scorer who had averaged 37.0 points in the Tropang Texters’ last two games, both resulting in victories over Barangay Ginebra and Red Bull, was held to a measly seven points on a 2-for-10 shooting from the field.

“”We also shot the ball very, very well. We hit 3s, we hit good shots and we beat them off the dribble,” Cone added.

L.A. Tenorio scored 15 points, John Ferriols added 14 off the bench and Willie Miller contributed 13 which came with seven rebounds and seven assists for the Aces, who posted the biggest margin by any team this conference at 44 points on a three-pointer by Joe Devance with 1:24 left in the third quarter.

Significantly, Alaska’s 26-0 run bridging the first and second quarter was the second longest rally in league history. The all-time record was Ginebra’s 32-0 run in the fourth quarter of its 116-90 victory over Shell in Game 5 of First Conference Finals on May 14, 1991.

Rookie Jason Castro improved his career best with 16 points, Jimmy Alapag had 12 and seven assists and Yousif Aljamal added 11 off the bench for Talk ‘N Text, which fell to 5-7.(DBC)

The scores:

Alaska 113 – Devance 21, Thoss 17, Tenorio 15, Ferriols 14, Miller 13, Fonacier 8, Hugnatan 6, Dela Pena 5, Borboran 5, Dela Cruz 5, Cariaso 4, Sotto 0.

Talk ‘N Text 86 – Castro 16, Alapag 12, Aljamal 11, Dillinger 10, Cardona 7, Peek 7, De Ocampo 6, Carey 5, Ritualo 4, Allado 4, Escobal 2, Reyes 2.

Quarterscores: 31-13; 64-31; 95-91; 113-86

http://www.pba.ph/content/view/2380/1/

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