Defying gravity
Alaska 87 vs. Barako Bull 76
by rick olivares
November 20, 2010
Araneta Coliseum
Tim Cone cannot say that facing Barako Bull was just what the doctor prescribed for his struggling Alaska Aces. “Far from it,” he said making sure that his words were loud enough for his players to hear as they dressed and joked around before their match. The two squads played their opening assignments of the current Philippine Cup last October 8 with Alaska coming out aces for an 88-64 win. “Their (Barako Bull 2-7) record and the results of the last time we played notwithstanding, they are a well-coached team. And they have been playing well of late while we have been struggling.”
To say that the Aces have been struggling is an understatement. They did beat the Energy Boosters 87-76 for the second time in the ongoing Philippine Cup but they got outscored in the fourth quarter 32-25 for the ninth consecutive game.
They leveled their record to 5-5 but they have yet to find some semblance of balance.
“Iniisip ko yung triangle offense umaga, hapon, at gabi,” said Bonbon Custodio as he dressed up after the match. “Nahihirapan ako sa opensa kaya nakikita ko na nga pati sa panaginip ko.”
As for forward Reynel Hugnatan, the reason for their perplexing start is because not everyone has gotten used to playing with one another and it’s only now that some like himself are beginning to get healthy: “Siguro ilang laro pa okay na kami. Kaso apat na lang yung laro namin. At ako? Nasa 80% pa lang siguro ako.”
Even when the team lost five of six games before the Barako Bull return bout, there wasn’t that much of a sense of panic in the Aces. They’ve been in this situation before but not with the current crew. And as good as the starting unit was, it has become important that an old hand and a newbie begin to get untracked.
Hugnatan and Custodio, one not fully 100% yet and the other groping to find his way in the labyrinthine triangle offense, helped spark their team by combining for 19 points and 7 rebounds as the Aces took the first three quarters.
The Aces looked to be headed for another blowout win after Tony dela Cruz swished a jumper to make it 71-49 Alaska with fewer than eight to play in the fourth quarter. With a lead like that, it is not uncommon for coaches to bring in their bench, but still Cone kept his starters in thinking Barako Bull had one more run left in them.
And true enough, the Energy Boosters dropped 27 points to Alaska’s 16 from there on. Sunday Salvacion scored five straight points to give his side a shot of adrenaline. That was followed by a fusillade of points from Reed Juntilla and Chad Alonzo who played his best game for Barako this conference (10 points, 7 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks) as he added seven markers of his own while gamely battling Alaska’s Joe Devance inside. “I was thinking when they (Barako) got the lead down to single digits, ‘uh oh, here we go again’ but I knew we’d pull through.
Devance responded when he fooled Mark Isip with a drop step that went in for an and-one with 54.2 to play and an 84-74 lead. And he hit another huge basket off a pass by Sonny Thoss for another bucket to drive home the nail of the Energy Boosters’ fifth straight loss.
“Do I feel the pressure of making the finals (Alaska has not won an All-Filipino conference since 2000)?” wondered Cone after their loss to Barangay Ginebra a week earlier. “Any coaches whether he’s at the top or at the bottom will tell you that. But we have made the finals in three of the last four conferences and we’d love to keep that going. We just need to close out games better. I realize you can’t stay on top all the time and team’s have their lows. Maybe in the next game, our luck will change. But we have to work for that and defy gravity.”
With their repeat victory over Barako, Cone turned his sights on one of the hottest teams in the league, the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados who have won four straight. “One team will get to continue its streak while the other will take a fall.”
Alaska 87 – Baguio 19, Devance 16, Thoss 13, Hugnatan 10, Custodio 9, dela Cruz 9, Tenorio 7, Borboran 2, Eman 2, Espiritu 0
Barako Bull 76 – Juntilla 16, Daa 13, Isip 13, Salvacion 11, Alonzo 10, Wainwright 7, Hubalde 4, Cruz 2, Hermida 0, Duncil 0, Bono 0, Andaya 0, Dimaunahan 0, Yee 0
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