Baguio Skies In Alaska Debut

Team	W	L	PCT
San Miguel	6	1	0.857
Talk N Text	5	2	0.714
Coca-Cola	4	3	0.571
Derby Ace	3	2	0.600
Alaska	3	2	0.600
Rain or Shine	3	3	0.500
Ginebra	3	3	0.500
Sta. Lucia	2	4	0.333
Air21	1	5	0.167
Barako Energy Coffee	1	6	0.143

(From PBA)

Cyrus Baguio upstaged Willie Miller in their debut with their new teams, helping Alaska Milk sustain its romp at the resumption of the 2010 PBA Fiesta Conference.

Baguio made a big impact in his first game with Alaska, fueling the team’s mighty comeback from 15 points down en route to an 86-81 win over Barangay Ginebra at the Araneta Coliseum Friday night.

Facing his former team, Baguio took charge at the finish, stealing the thunder from Miller as Alaska made it five in a row versus Ginebra dating back to their Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals showdown swept by the Aces.

The 6-foot-2 guard-forward tossed in 12 of his 14 points in the final quarter, outscoring the entire Ginebra team in the payoff period.

Baguio and the Aces stunned the Kings with a huge closing run, overcoming a poor first half as Alaska notched a third straight win after starting its stint in the reinforced tourney with two successive defeats.

“We’re totally out of whack in the beginning. Mark Caguioa was going crazy and we couldn’t stop him. Then Cyrus turned things around for us,” said Alaska coach Tim Cone on Baguio’s heroics.

“Willie (Miller) would certainly have his moments and Ginebra would love him, but tonight’s Cyrus’ night,” Cone added.

“Hindi ko in-expect ito. Nag-dasal lang ako na sana naman huag ako mapahiya sa unang laro ko sa Alaska,” said Baguio.

“Ang sama ng laro ko at the start kasi medyo nahihiya pa ako. Good thing, nakuha ko ang rhythm sa fourth quarter,” Baguio added.

Baguio was all over the floor in the final period, going 4-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from the stripe, and also getting three rebounds, two blocks and one assist.

The Ace survived after a struggle throughout the first three quarters of play.

Earlier, Ginebra dished out an inspired game playing with a new import in Mildon Ambres and prized new acquisition in Miller.

They led by as many as 15 before settling for a 51-38 halftime lead.

With their new mix, the Kings showed great potential only to falter at the finish and suffer a third loss against the same number of wins.

The Ginebra fans gave Miller a big applause as he checked in for the game a minute into the second half.

He grabbed two rebounds, issued two assists and committed an error before making his first basket as a Ginebra player, slithering past three defenders for a reversed layup.

Miller had a hand as the Kings built double-digit spreads in the second quarter even with Ambres resting on the bench.

Mark Caguioa led their second-quarter breakaway, going perfect from the field with a three-pointer and three twinners.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Ambres and Caguioa gave Ginebra a 27-22 lead in the opening period. (SB)

The scores:

Alaska 86 - Simpson 35, Baguio 14, Tenorio 13, Dela Cruz 12, Eman 4, Thoss 4, Hugnatan 4, De Vance 0, Fonacier 0, Cablay 0.

Ginebra 81 - Ambres 23, Caguioa 22, Cruz 11, Wilson 6, Hatfield 5, Menk 4, Tubid 3, Helterbrand 3, Ferriols 2, Miller 2, Mamaril 0.

Quarterscores: 22-27, 38-51, 60-74, 86-81

Sizzling SMB Streaks To Fifth Straight Win Over Rusty RoS

(From PBA)

The All-Star break affected San Miguel Beer and Rain or Shine in contrasting fashions.

No less than the teams’ respective coaches admitted this when the Beermen pulled off a cruising 105-97 win Friday to solidify their hold on the PBA Fiesta Conference leadership at the Araneta Coliseum.

Hardly affected by the 12-day layover from their last game and the recent mid-season spectacle in Puerto Princesa City, the Beermen picked up their game the most from midway in the second quarter on to lead by as many as 23 points twice, the last at 92-69.

“Medyo napaganda ‘yung break dahil napahinga ang mga players,” said SMB coach Siot Tanquingcen following the win that was his team’s fifth straight, jacking its win-loss record to 6-1.

“At the same time we were also able to work on several things, conduct practice and all those worked somehow to our advantage.”

Jay Washington, who led all scorers with a personal season-high 23 points, totally agreed.

“Everybody was able to get some rest during the break and that helped us a lot coming into this game,” said Washington, who drilled in three triples and added nine rebounds.

The defeat was Rain or Shine’s third in six games and coach Caloy Garcia blamed it all on his team’s inability to match SMB’s tenacity off the boards, where the Elasto Painters wound up with a 42-60 disadvantage.

But he also cited the long break his team had since their last game April 16, which seemed to have dulled their edge, and to the absence of All-Star performers Gabe Norwood, Sol Mercado, Jervy Cruz, Jeff Chan and Marcy Arellano.

Beermen Arwind Santos, Dondon Hontiveros and Jonas Villanueva also saw action in the All-Stars, but there’s no comparison, insisted Garcia. “Sa kanila, kahit ilan ang mawala All-Stars pa rin ang team nila. Kami hindi,” he said.

Jai Lewis led the Elasto Painters with 20 points and 12 rebounds, but he was held to just six points in the last three quarters.

Mike Hrabak went a perfect 5-for-5 from behind the arc for 17 points and Mercado and Tyrone Tang were the only other RoS players in double figures.

Gabe Freeman was his usual all-around self, netting 18 points on top of 15 rebounds. Dorian Pena added 13 boards while Dondon Hontiveros also had nine boards that helped stoke Garcia’s frustration at his charges.

“Today we simply played with no heart and allowed ourselves to be killed by San Miguel off the boards,” Garcia fumed. “I told my players before the game that we had to control the boards and we did not do that.”

Freeman got slapped with a technical foul for shoving Mark Telan after the latter’s hard foul on the SMB import underneath the basket with the count at 96-79, still 6:10 to go.

That was one of the very few times in the game when RoS showed some fire.

Washington was the hottest Beerman in the third period as he scattered 12 points anchored on two triples and fueled the team’s charge to an 88-65 lead before heading into the fourth with an 88-69 cushion.

Things started falling apart for the Elasto Painters in the second quarter, when they got outscored, 23-7, in the last 6:18 to fall behind by 64-49 at the half.

Joseph Yeo had six points with some hangtime moves in that surge with Danny Ildefonso and Santos adding four each.

Lewis was all set to surpass his conference average of 18.2 ppg as early as the first quarter, when he already had 14. But RoS still found itself trailing by 23-34.

Freeman had 10 points and eight rebounds in the opening period, but it was Alex Cabagnot who chiefly set the table with five assists.

It took two free throws by Mercado and a buzzer-beating layup by Tang inside the last 51 seconds of the period that made it a seven-point game.

Picking up from where he left off, Tang boomed in two triples and a left-handed lay-up to lead a sizzling comeback that brought RoS within 42-43.

The scores:

San Miguel Beer 105 - Washington 23, Freeman 18, Hontiveros 13, Villanueva 8, Yeo 8, Ildefonso 8, Miranda 6, Pennisi 6, Pena 6, Santos 5, Cbagnot 4, Holper 0.

Rain or Shine 97 - Lewis 20, Hrabak 17, Mercado 16, Tang 12, Telan 6, Norwood 5, Arellano4, Chan 4, Ibanes 4, Arana 3, Cruz 2, Reyes 2, Laure 2.

Quarterscores: 34-27, 64-49, 88-69, 105-97.