ALASKA’S runaway win its last time out was no
fluke and the Aces are determined to stress this.
Willie Miller played true to his scoring
leader label with a game-high 23 points and Sonny Thoss had 18
points and 19 rebounds as Alaska overcame a sluggish start to
crush Talk N Text 102-92 last night for its second lopsided win
in the Smart-PBA Philippine Cup at the Astrodome.
"It was a quality win against a quality
opponent," said Cone after the match that looked like it would
go on the Phone Pals way early.
"It’s always scary going up against Talk N
Text. They have so many weapons and they’re so deep. It’s one of
those team that you worry about both on defense and offense."
The Aces dealt Red Bull a 100-77 thrashing on
Christmas Day and early in last night’s game seemed had little
energy left.
Instead, the vigor and panache came back in
an instant and now they have injected more life into their
outright semifinals bid after improving to a 10-7 win-loss
record.
The loss was the Phone Pals’ eighth in 16
games.
It was only in the early part of the opening
quarter that Cone and the Aces were worried. Ren-Ren Ritualo
built much of his 14 points halfway through the period with 12,
and TNT found itself up 12-3.
It was, however, not enough to totally put a
good team down.
The Aces retaliated, and then had more
firepower in a blistering third quarter where they led by as
many as 79-59 and never looked back.
Cone, however, believes that they need the
help of the others to barge into the semis outright.
"Our fate isn’t entirely in our hands," said
Cone. "We need someone to beat Sta. Lucia, and I think we need
Ginebra at this point to beat Red Bull."
The defending champions were playing the
Bulls as of press time.
In a related development, Lambert Ramos may
yet end up as the league’s seventh commissioner when the PBA
Board of Governors convenes on Jan 10.
A reliable source said the man nominated by
Alaska to replace Noli Eala has already cornered the six votes
needed for him to officially beat rival Atty. Chito Salud.
Ramos, 56, reportedly got only four votes and
Salud five when the Board first met last Dec. 17 that ended in
an impasse. The corporate and marketing genius allegedly got the
nod of TNT, Sta. Lucia, Air21 and Alaska .
The source said Red Bull and Coca-Cola have now switched to
Ramos and will vote for him in the final voting.