Aces, B-Boys make Top 6

MANILA, Philippines - Alaska Milk easily handled Powerade, fashioning out an 86-78 win to safely make the best-of-three quarterfinals phase of the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

The Alaska starters all came up with significant numbers as the Aces repeated over the Tigers and secured a spot in the Top Six with a closing 7-7 win-loss card in the elimination round.

Meralco finished fifth as it outlasted Rain or Shine in a gripping triple-overtime game, squeezing out a 125-124 win later in the night.

The Aces face the Barangay Ginebra Kings while the B-Boys take on the B-MEG Derby Ace Llamados in best-of-three quarters showdowns beginning tomorrow.

It’s top seed Talk n Text versus No. 8 Rain or Shine and second ranked San Miguel Beer against No. 7 Air21 in the other quarters matchups. The higher seeded teams enjoy twice-to-beat advantage.

“At this point, we’re happy to get on even terms in the quarters. We like our chances as we avoided teams with the twice-to-beat advantage,” said Alaska coach Tim Cone.     

Alaska closed out its elims stint with back-to-back wins while dealing Powerade its eighth straight defeat for a 3-11 windup.

The Tigers failed to make it past the elimination round for the first time in the last 10 conferences.

“It looked simple from outside looking in. But there’s a lot of anxiousness going to this game because you know the other team is playing with no pressure at all. Most of the time, a team plays better playing without pressure,” said Cone.

“I’m proud of the boys they came out and took care of things. That helped us prepare whomever we play in the quarters,” Cone added. “We built momentum going to the playoffs and that gives us confidence. Confidence means a lot in the playoffs.”

Cyrus Baguio logged 21 points, nine rebounds and three assists, Thoss tallied 14 points and 11 rebounds while Joe De Vance added 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists to neutralize Sean Anthony’s career-high 29-point explosion.