MANILA: With its foot on the gas all night long, Alaska made its true strength reverberate for the entire PBA Philippine Cup field to feel.
Playing without letup on both ends Friday night, the Aces blew Meralco off the court, 105-64, for its third straight win and the solo lead in the season-opening conference at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
And Alaska did it even with its star-studded core not being extended, downplaying the true might of the squad that was the most impressive in the off-season.
“I guess we caught Meralco on an off-night and that my guys played really hard,” Alaska coach Alex Compton said when asked to explain the extra sharpness that the Aces displayed against the hapless Bolts.
“Sometimes, it just happens — the baskets suddenly are bigger,” Compton said after dealing the Bolts their first loss in three games and wriggling out of a four-team tie for the lead. “Our guys just played fantastic tonight.”
The likes of Calvin Abueva, Sonny Thoss, JV Casio and Cyrus Baguio were played for minimal minutes by Compton as Alaska opened up with seven unanswered points and was never really threatened.
Vic Manuel scored 10 of his team-high 17 points in the first period to jumpstart the Alaska offense as the Aces closed out the first half sitting on a 54-37 bubble the Bolts never came to bursting in the second half.
It was by far the most impressive outing for the Aces, who ripped defending champion Purefoods, 93-73, before walking the tightrope last week against Talk ‘N Text, 100-98.
And the loss was the ugliest in the tournament thus far, even uglier than the couple of blowout losses expansion squad KIA took at the hands of Barangay Ginebra and Rain or Shine last week.
Abueva, who was the hero against the Tropang Texters, scored 10 points despite playing just 10 minutes, while Thoss, Baguio and Casio were on the floor only for a combined 52 as Compton’s nucleus was able to get much-deserved rest after that hard win over Talk ‘N Text.
Cliff Hodge paced the Bolts with 16 points and 11 rebounds — his second straight double-double — but the rest of the team fired blanks all night with only Sean Anthony finishing in twin digits with 11.
So in disarray was the Meralco game that the Bolts had more errors than assists, 18-12, while making just 23-of-71 shots from the field.
In stark contrast, the Aces moved the ball with great efficiency, dishing out a total of 30 feeds while making 58% of their shots as they sealed one of their finest tournament starts in years and, obviously, the best start under Compton’s watch.
Meanwhile, defending champion Purefoods finally won one, coming from behind to nip Globalport, 81-75, in the nightcap.
The Star Hotshots persevered all game long and found one last ounce of fight heading into the final 3:44, where they overhauled a seven-point lead with a strong finish anchored on Mark Barroca.
Purefoods, which won this tournament — and last season’s Grand Slam — known as the San Mig Coffee Mixers, actually trailed largest at 18 points early in the third period, 42-24, before finding themselves down, 63-70, going into the last 3:44.
But Barroca, together with the returning Marc Pingris, authored the great comeback. The 5-foot-11 point guard scored the Hotshots’ final six points that put the Batang Pier away.
It was another story of implosion for the Batang Pier, whose first of two losses came against NLEX last week after they also blew control. Purefoods is now also at 1-2.
Alex Cabagnot scored 12 straight points to give the Batang Pier that seven-point lead only for Globalport to be held to just five points the rest of the way.
Barroca finished with 25 points, 15 of them coming in the payoff frame, and Allein Maliksi scattered 20.
Rookie Stanley Pringle paced the Batang Pier with 20 markers but was completely out of gas in the final two quarters where he scored just a combined six points.