In-form Tigers rip listless Aces

MANILA, Philippines - Coca-Cola continued to brandish impeccable form as it pulled off a mind-boggling 105-92 rout of league-leader Alaska Milk in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

The Tigers opened up with 11 unanswered points, sat on a 21-point cushion at halftime and sustained their momentum in the final half in a big follow-up to their 106-94 win over the Burger King Whoppers last week.

It was the Tigers’ first victory over the Aces in the all-Filipino tourney in three years.

The victory also gave coach Bo Perasol and his Tigers some reprieve, moving up to ninth place with a 3-11 win-loss card -- half-game behind the eighth-running Rain and Shine Elasto Painters (3-10) and half-game ahead of tail-enders the Barako Bull Energy Boosters (2-11).

Curiously, the Elasto Painters were also in the bottom of the chart when they dealt the Aces their only other loss in the tourney.

The Aces played listlessly and hardly got into the game, trailing by as many as 30 points in the lopsided contest.

Streak-shooting Coke forward Mark Macapagal poured in 17 of his 19 points in the first half, helping set the tone of the match early.

Asi Taulava, playing his third game in his return from a foot injury, logged double-double numbers with 18 points and 12 rebounds and Dennis Espino churned out solid stats coming off the bench with 18 points and eight rebounds.

Marvin Cruz and Larry Rodriguez also got away with double-digit outputs for the Tigers, who avenged their 79-100 defeat to the Aces in their previous tiff.

“The determination came from our desire to compete. It’s not exactly a desire to win but a desire to be together in fighting for the game,” said Perasol.

“It helped that Alaska was coming off two good games. We know that if they play really well, we don’t have a chance,” Perasol added.

The Tigers came out growling, racing to a 29-13 spread in the first quarter.

They stretched their lead to 21 at the half with the team sizzling with a 55.3-percent shooting as against the Aces’ 35.7-percent clip.

So hot was Macapagal that he went 2-of-2 from the three-point area, 5-of-5 from the stripe and 3-of-4 from the two-point zone in the first 24 minutes of play.

Willie Miller paced the Aces with 17 points on 7-of-11 field-goal shooting.

LA Tenorio, the other half of Alaska’s deadly backcourt pair, had only three until he got six more in the closing minutes.

Tenorio had been held to single-digit output in the season just once - four in their 87-73 win over Burger King last Nov. 6.