Aces thankful Dragons played worse

Alaska Milk played listlessly coming off a 12-day break but got the job done just the same as the Aces struggled past the Welcoat Dragons, 74-66, last night to regain a share of second place in the Talk n Text PBA Fiesta Cup elimination round at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Aces had a hard time setting up their plays and getting their shots in as they groped for only 35.4 percent shooting from the field. But the Dragons had a tougher time, finishing with a woeful 28.8 percent field-goal shooting – the worst in their young stint in the league.

"We just couldn’t get anything from our triangle and zone offense. But it really happens in one or two or three games that your offense just won’t show up. I congratulated the boys we struggled but we battled and finally came through on hard work," said Alaska coach Tim Cone.

"It could have been a blowout if it were already the Ginebra game. Hopefully, we come out relax as we face a tall order against Ginebra. But I expect we’ll be a lot better and more fluid," said Cone on their game against Ginebra Friday.

Thus, Alaska snapped a two-game losing skein and caught up with Red Bull and Air21 in second at 8-4 (win-loss) records.

Welcoat reeled to its sixth straight setback and moved deeper down the cellar at 2-10.

The Dragons terribly missed the services of Jay-R Reyes, the team’s leading scorer, rebounder and shot-blocker, who sat out the game due to an inflamed heel.

With their shooting improving in the fourth quarter, the Aces built a pair of 12-point leads and went on to win the game.

Joachim Thoss and Rossel Ellis came through with double-double games to lead the Aces to victory. Thoss had 15 points and 12 rebounds while Ellis had 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Wayland White showed big improvement from his lackluster debut, snaring 20 rebounds and scoring 18 points but failed to get the needed support from the locals.

The Dragons fired mostly blanks, converting just 21 of their 73 field-goal tries. The Aces were slightly better, making 28 of 79 attempts.

The Aces made it 4-0 in their head-on duels with the Dragons in the season as they fashioned out a 99-78 rout in their previous tiff in the conference.