Facing a supposed heavyweight that lacked the services of reliable big men, the Aces Wednesday night eked out a 92-87 decision of defending champion Derby Ace to grab a piece of the early lead at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay.

“We played an undermanned Derby Ace (team) and Barako Bull which most people think (isn’t that talented),” Cone told reporters after picking up his second straight win in the season-opening tournament.

“We’re coming around, though we’re not where we want to be,” he continued. “But we are making steps in the right direction and we are taking advantage of the opportunities that have been coming our way.” There wasn’t a bigger opportunity than last night, when Derby Ace, for the second consecutive game, was without big men Marc Pingris, Rafi Reavis and Kerby Raymundo.

“We just need to pile up the wins while we can,” Cone said.

Joe Devance scored 24 points and four others scored in twin digits, including Sonny Thoss, who dropped 10 markers and cleared a career-high 21 boards, downplaying what a field day he had in the absence of true competition inside the paint.

“Sonny did what he needed to do – and what he should have done,” Cone said with a smile.

LA Tenorio had 14 points and Bonbon Custodio nine coming off the bench, including a big-time jumper with under a minute left that iced the game for the Aces and kept the defending champions winless in two outings. Reigning MVP James Yap was starved to just 16 points in 35 minutes and PJ Simon shared scoring honors with him in a surprise start.

Derby Ace played a whole lot better compared to a 76-87 loss to Talk ’N Text last week as Jonas Villanueva, a new recruit from San Miguel, dropped 15 markers built around a 75% clip from the field.

The trio of Derby Ace’s big men is not expected to be back anytime soon, with Raymundo, a perennial Mythical Team member, likely to miss the entire tournament after undergoing arthroscopic surgery.

Devance scored 12 of his total in the third period and kept the Aces in control as Derby Ace doggedly stuck close.

Yap then scored seven points in the fourth period and kept the Llamados in the contest only for Derby Ace to fall because of the sheer firepower packed by the Aces which they didn’t have an answer to.

Meanwhile, Jeff Chan took only one attempt in the fourth period even though he was the hottest player for Rain or Shine, and it was just the perfect shot to take as it turned out to be the game winner.

The 6-foot-2 former Far Eastern ace in the UAAP drained a triple at the buzzer and keyed an 89-86 victory over the Air21 Express for the Elasto Painters’ first win.

Chan received a perfect pop-out pass from a driving Solomon Mercado and flicked in the winner as time expired as the shot averted what would have been a big meltdown after the Painters erased an 82-77 lead entering the final two minutes.

“Jeff was hot the whole game,” Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia said. “When Sol attacked the basket, he saw Jeff open. I hope that shot can give him the confidence when we play against bigger teams.” Chan finished with 19 points, 13 of them in the first half when the Painters took control.

Air21, on the other hand, stumbled for the second straight game, but not after giving it one big fight, unlike in an 84-100 season-opening loss.

The Express actually went scoreless for more than five minutes after taking that five-point lead, scoring their final four points off Ronjay Buenafe charities inside the final 26.5 that even tied the count for the last time at 86 with 5.4 seconds remaining.

And that proved to be the only window that the Painters needed to launch the game-winning play, as Mercado drove hard and attracted a quadruple team before popping out the pass to a wide-open Chan.