Alaska survived an early bombardment from Sta. Lucia Realty to come out a 103-95 victory last 20 June 2010 and keep alive its hopes of making it outright to the semifinals of the PBA Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Aces remained poised despite the Realtors' early surge to a 20-point lead, rallying behind Cyrus Baguio before having Diamon Simpson lead them home.
"We were shellshocked by the bombs they threw at us in the first quarter and a half," admitted Aces coach Tim Cone, whose wards were barraged by 11 three-pointers by the Realtors in the first half alone. "It was like shock and awe out there. We couldn't run for cover fast enough."
"But we told out players to keep playing beyond it, keep working, and hopefully some of their shots won't fall in."
Baguio sparkled in the second quarter, where he scattered 15 of his 23 points to bring the Aces back from 28-48 down to within 51-54 at halftime, before Simpson took over and eventually finished with a game-high 32 points on top of 10 rebounds.
"Parang ang nasa isip ko na lang gumawa ng paraan dahil malaki na ang lamang," said Baguio, who made all his three attempts in the second period.
"Nu'ng pumasok ang mga tres ko, parang nagkakumpiyansa na ituloy-tuloy na," he added.
The win was Alaska's 11th in 17 games, putting it just half a game behind B-Meg Derby Ace, idle with an 11-5 slate. The Aces can figure in a playoff for the outright semis berth should they win their last game against 12-5 San Miguel Beer and the Llamados drop one of their two remaining games.
Cone pointed out some of the scenarios happening are simply out of their hands and they could be content with their current automatic quarterfinals seat. “We can control how we play San Miguel, but we can’t control Derby Ace,” he said.
"We know it's not all in our control, so our goal is to get the best scene we can and go from there, whether it be at third or fourth."
Sta. Lucia dropped to a 5-12 card, its hopes of making the wildcard now hinging on winning its last game in the eliminations against Coca-Cola next week since both Air21 and Barako Energy Coffee, toting similar 3-13 records, can still catch the Realtors.
Anthony Johnson finished with a team-high 26 points an game-high 12 rebounds. But he had four of his six turnovers in the payoff period that helped fuel Alaska’s homeward surge.
The way SLR wound up its shooting from beyond the arc was vastly different from how it started the game and helped its downfall as it got beaten in both points in the paint (54-30), fastbreak points (25-8) and rebounds (48-39).
The Realtors made all but four of their first 15 triple tries before missing all but four of their last 13 attempts. (NC)
The Aces remained poised despite the Realtors' early surge to a 20-point lead, rallying behind Cyrus Baguio before having Diamon Simpson lead them home.
"We were shellshocked by the bombs they threw at us in the first quarter and a half," admitted Aces coach Tim Cone, whose wards were barraged by 11 three-pointers by the Realtors in the first half alone. "It was like shock and awe out there. We couldn't run for cover fast enough."
"But we told out players to keep playing beyond it, keep working, and hopefully some of their shots won't fall in."
Baguio sparkled in the second quarter, where he scattered 15 of his 23 points to bring the Aces back from 28-48 down to within 51-54 at halftime, before Simpson took over and eventually finished with a game-high 32 points on top of 10 rebounds.
"Parang ang nasa isip ko na lang gumawa ng paraan dahil malaki na ang lamang," said Baguio, who made all his three attempts in the second period.
"Nu'ng pumasok ang mga tres ko, parang nagkakumpiyansa na ituloy-tuloy na," he added.
The win was Alaska's 11th in 17 games, putting it just half a game behind B-Meg Derby Ace, idle with an 11-5 slate. The Aces can figure in a playoff for the outright semis berth should they win their last game against 12-5 San Miguel Beer and the Llamados drop one of their two remaining games.
Cone pointed out some of the scenarios happening are simply out of their hands and they could be content with their current automatic quarterfinals seat. “We can control how we play San Miguel, but we can’t control Derby Ace,” he said.
"We know it's not all in our control, so our goal is to get the best scene we can and go from there, whether it be at third or fourth."
Sta. Lucia dropped to a 5-12 card, its hopes of making the wildcard now hinging on winning its last game in the eliminations against Coca-Cola next week since both Air21 and Barako Energy Coffee, toting similar 3-13 records, can still catch the Realtors.
Anthony Johnson finished with a team-high 26 points an game-high 12 rebounds. But he had four of his six turnovers in the payoff period that helped fuel Alaska’s homeward surge.
The way SLR wound up its shooting from beyond the arc was vastly different from how it started the game and helped its downfall as it got beaten in both points in the paint (54-30), fastbreak points (25-8) and rebounds (48-39).
The Realtors made all but four of their first 15 triple tries before missing all but four of their last 13 attempts. (NC)
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