Aces go for 2-0 card in Commish Cup
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
OPENED their campaign in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup with a victory, the Alaska Aces look to continue rolling when they trek back to the court today and take on the debuting Northport Batang Pier.
Set for 4:30 p.m. at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City, the Aces, a 111-98 victor over the Columbian Dyip on opening day on May 19, are out to stay unscathed early in the midseason tournament with another win.
Alaska, which failed to move past the quarterfinal stage in the previous tournament, used an explosive third quarter against Columbian last time around to blow things open after a tight first half on its way to booking its first win in the tournament.
The Aces outscored the Dyip, 34-13, in the third period to overturn a six-point deficit at halftime and never looked back after.
Import Chris Daniels led the way for Alaska in the opening-day win, finishing with 25 points and 16 rebounds.
Guard Chris Banchero had 20 points while Simon Enciso finished with 18, going 5-of-9 from beyond the arc.
Carl Bryan Cruz was the other Alaska player in double digits with 14 points.
“It’s always good to start off with the first win. The game is really important for us,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton following their win.
Out to foil Alaska are Northport, which like the Aces made it to the quarterfinals of the Philippine Cup but was eventually eliminated at the first instance.
The Batang Pier have brought in Prince Ibeh as import to backstop their campaign, joining forces with stalwarts Stanley Pringle, Sean Anthony, Mo Tautuaa and Robert Bolick.
Mr. Ibeh, a product of the University of Texas, is expected to shore up the undersized front court of Northport.
Meanwhile, serving as nightcap at 7 p.m. is the collision between the NLEX Road Warriors and TNT KaTropa.
The Yeng Guiao-coached Road Warriors try to bounce back after a struggle of a campaign in the Philippine Cup that had team narrowly missing the playoffs at ninth place.
NLEX will have Curtis Washington as reinforcement. He saw action at the Bahrain league and posted monster double-double numbers.
Mr. Washington was a replacement import for Tony Mitchell, who was supposed to banner the campaign of NLEX. The latter, however, failed to show up in time, forcing the team to make the change.
On the other hand, TNT will be parading legit National Basketball Association campaigner Terrence Jones.
A first-round pick by the Houston Rockets in the 2012 draft after joining forces with Anthony Davis to give the University of Kentucky a title, Mr. Jones played two games in the NBA this season before being relegated to the G-League.
He is expected to give a boost to TNT, which was upset by the San Miguel Beermen in the quarterfinals of the previous tournament.
