Top seeds in trouble

Alaska import Diamond Simpson against TNT defenders. PBA IMAGES

Seemingly not being able to do anything wrong against an enemy that was practically untouched in the elimination round, Alaska dealt top-ranked TNT a 108-72 drubbing on Sunday night and, more than taking their quarterfinal matchup in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup to the distance, the Aces dealt the KaTropa a huge dent in confidence at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Coach Alex Compton pointed to two things that he felt were big into pushing the KaTropa to within another loss of bungling their first stint as the No. 1 seed in five years.

“Definitely didn’t see that coming. I think a big part of it was they missed shots they normally make. It happens to great teams,” Compton said after the stunning beatdown of the KaTropa that helped them turn a twice-to-win disadvantage to a you-or-me affair on Wednesday.

Seventh-ranked San Miguel Beer also took its series with No. 2 NorthPort to the distance after scoring a 98-84 win in the nightcap.

Chris McCullough scored 24 points and had 11 rebounds, June Mar Fajardo pulled down 19 boards that went with 11 points as the Beermen broke away late in the first half to
also forge a KO match on Wednesday.

“I thought our entire coaching staff, top to bottom, really helped me prepare a game plan that worked,” Compton added.

Import Diamon Simpson joined hands with Jeron Teng to lead the Aces in scoring. Both finished with 15 points, with Teng coming up with his contributions off the bench. Four more locals tossed in 11 or more in the rout that had the Aces leading by as large as 38 points and would give the enemy something to really think about come the KO game.

Simpson plucked down 19 boards, greatly contributing to Alaska’s total haul of 73 that utterly dominated their foes’ 47.
The Aces combined for 12 steals, nearly doubling the KaTropa’s total of seven.

Jayson Castro scored the most for TNT, which didn’t get the usual eye-popping numbers from import Terrence Jones, who only had 19 points and six boards—paltry totals from the numbers he churned out during the eliminations that made him the yardstick among imports here.

The only other loss for TNT here came in the eliminations, when NorthPort held him to just 17 points after coming into that game averaging 42.

Another Alaska victory would duplicate how TNT handled the last time it qualified to the playoffs as the No. 1 seed, when it was also swept by Barangay Ginebra.

“What we have now earned ourselves is a chance to play a hungry, great, well-coached, disciplined, tough team on Wednesday, after a bad loss,” he said. “You’re not gonna hear a whole lot of celebrating on our side.”

“We have to be absolutely great if we’re going make it happen,” Compton said.