In a game featuring contrasting teams, the Alaska Aces, who had a lot of players comebacking for last season’s bridesmaid finishers, cruised to a 114-98 win over the retooled Talk ‘N Text team on Wednesday night, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
A good offensive exchange by the two teams ensued in the opening quarter as there was no shortage of firepower from the powerhouse crews. Jayson Castro ignited Talk ‘N Text’s offense as he scored seven efficient points to help his team take the opening lead. Despite five early turnovers from their center, Sonny Thoss, Cyrus Baguio hit a triple at the 4:45 mark of the first to give Alaska its first taste of the lead. Afterwards, Vic Manuel, Dondon Hontiveros, and Calvin Abueva’s insertion led the charge in the last stretch of the period to give Alaska an early 12-pt separation.
Alaska’s depth started to fire from all cylinders as they doubled TNT 36-18 with six unanswered points to start the second. The Aces extended their lead at its largest, 42-22 with good ball movement and baskets from their frontcourt. However, a 15-4 counter in the middle of the second was unleashed by the Texters behind the efforts from their National team players. Fortunately, the Aces were able to withstand the rally and put up 62 points at the break, while shooting 58% from the field.
Plan of attack for the Aces was simple, and that was locating the open man or attacking the paint. They maintained the comfortable lead while shutting down TNT’s interior game. Ranidel De Ocampo scored seven more points in the third period, but was not enough to withstand Alaska’s onslaught, as the latter already tallied 80 markers with more than 4 minutes to go in the third canto.
The last period was played to be a 12-minute of garbage time as Alaska’s lead seemed insurmountable at that point. With a little over six minutes to play, TNT’s main guns hit the bench, while Alaska managed to continue its domination as the Aces tallied 25 more points in the last quarter to barge to the win column.
After the scoring spree in the game, Coach Alex Compton commended his boys in a 48-minute effort en route for their first win of the new season. “I thought that good ball movement helped, and offensively we got it going. I thought it was a big factor. (I’m) very happy that our guys played well. Unfortunately, they(TNT) seemed to miss a lot of shots, and we just hit ours.”
TNT made three more shots from beyond downtown, but Alaska outrebounded the Texters, 54-44. They also asserted themselves more from the paint, 62-38, while limiting TNT to shooting 38% from the field.
Vic Manuel led the charge for the Aces with 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while also grabbing 10 rebounds. Sonny Thoss and JVee Casio added 19 apiece. For the losing Tropang Texters, Ranidel topscored his team with 26, and Castro chipped in 19 markers with three triples.
Alaska(1-0) looks for its second win of the season against Blackwater(1-0), 4:15pm on Oct 28 at Araneta while the Tropang Texters(0-1) faces Mahindra(0-0) next on Oct 31 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Scores:
Alaska (114) – Manuel 22, Thoss 17, Casio 17, Abueva 15, Banchero 14, Baguio 8, Baclao 6, Hontiveros 6, Jazul 4, Exciminiano 3, Dela Rosa 2, Dela Cruz 0, Magat 0.
Talk ‘N Text (98) – De Ocampo 26, Castro 19, Fonacier 15, Reyes R.9, Ganuelas-Rosser 7, Carey 6, Reyes J. 5, Rosario 4, Tautuaa 2, Miranda 2, Rodriguez 0, Ababou 0
Quarterscores: 30-18, 62-46, 89-73, 114-98.
*Photos by PBA Images
