Aces shoot lights out of Bolts, seize lead

ALASKA rookie Chris Banchero gets away from Meralco’s John Ferriols in last night’s lopsided game at Smart Araneta Coliseum. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

FLUID, unselfish and playing with unrelenting killer’s instinct, Alaska dropped Meralco like a bad habit last night and zoomed to the solo lead in the PBA Philippine Cup with the most lopsided victory thus far in the elimination round.

The Aces were in synch all game that they actually found little need for their core of stars to deliver heavily in a 105-64 bamboozling of the Bolts at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The win was the third straight for Alaska.

“Sometimes it happens—the basket gets really big,” Alaska coach Alex Compton said of their dominating play. “Our guys played fantastic. They (Bolts) just had an off night and my guys played really hard.”

The loss was the first in three games for the Bolts, who came into the contest with a shot at the solo lead after needing a total of three overtime periods to win their first two games.

Meralco didn’t even come close to forging extension on this one.

Alaska opened up with seven unanswered points and never looked back as Vic Manuel cranked up the Aces’ offense with 10 of his team-high 17 points in the first period.

Manuel could have done more damage had he been given more than 18 minutes of play.

So one-sided was the contest early that Compton cleared his bench with still a lot of time left, with all 14 men contributing offensively and Alaska able to get much needed bench time for starters JV Casio, Calvin Abueva, Sonny Thoss and Cyrus Baguio.

Cliff Hodge scored 16 points and Sean Anthony added 11 for the Bolts, who played so bad they had more turnovers than assists, 18-12 while shooting just 23-of-71 from the field for a lowly 32-percent clip.

Alaska was the exact opposite as it made 18 more baskets from the same number of attempts while distributing the ball better by finishing with 30 assists, eight of them coming from rookie Chris Banchero.

The Meralco loss was even uglier than the 32-point blowout that newcomer KIA suffered at the hands of Barangay Ginebra last week. On Wednesday, the Sorento lost a second game, this time by 29 points to Rain or Shine.

The big win also erased bitter memories of Alaska’s 51-point defeat at the hands of Rain or Shine in last season’s Governors’ Cup.

Compton was quick to say that he expects Meralco to bounce back hard.

“I expect Meralco and the character that they have to bounce back strong,” Compton said. “I wouldn’t want to play them next.”

The scores:

First Game

ALASKA 105—Manuel 17, Hontiveros 16, Banchero 11, Abueva 10, Baguio 8, Jazul 8, Exciminiano 7, Eman 6, Dela Rosa 6, Thoss 5, Bugia 4, Vanlandingham 3, Dela Cruz 2, Casio 2.

MERALCO 64—Hodge 16, Anthony 11, Dillinger 9, Hugnatan 6, Buenafe 5, Ildefonso 4, David 4, Morrison 3, Wilson 2, Cortez 2, Ferriols 2, Atkins 0, Sena 0, Guevarra 0.

Quarters: 25-15, 54-37, 76-52, 105-64