B-Meg routs Alaska for playoff berth

Tim Cone coached his B-Meg Llamados to their best defensive game in his tenure and, interestingly enough, dealt his former team Alaska one of its worst losses in the PBA.
“We played some really good defense tonight — our best defensive game since I’ve been around,” Cone said, minutes after a 77-61 demolition of the Aces that virtually gave the Llamados the first semifinal ticket in the Governors’ Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Llamados, the reigning Commissioner’s Cup champs, broke away by holding the Aces to eight points in the third period, doing it with import Marcus Blakely riding the bench and even if James Yap was far from his deadly self.
And that brilliant defensive effort in the second half resulted in a season-low mark for the Aces, who were also held down to the fourth lowest output in their franchise.
So low-scoring was the game that the 13 points each of Blakely, JC Intal and PJ Simon were enough to lead the talent-laden Llamados, who rose to 5-1 and into the solo lead which is good for the first semifinal seat.
But Cone refuses to have that go into his players’ heads, as the format of the tournament would require teams to win as many games as they can with the elimination round records to be carried over to the playoffs.
“We have no thoughts whether we’re in or out,” Cone explained “It’s not about making the semis because you feel like you’ve accomplished something by saying that you’ve made the semis.
“Our goal right now is to keep winning, and we must with three tough games to close out our (elimination round) schedule.” Blakely, according to Cone, could have suffered from a concussion after taking an accidental elbow from Sonny Thoss early in the third quarter. The B-Meg import was rushed to the hospital after the game for a brain scan.
But his absence did not deter the Llamados one bit, as they went on to control the boards, 53-48 and play better as a team even without an import in the final two periods. B-Meg issued 20 assists compared to the nine of the Aces.
Alaska dropped to 1-5 with its fourth consecutive loss and would most likely be one of the four casualties in the tournament which will only advance the top six teams into the next round.
Barako Bull enhanced its chances of getting there earlier after a 109-100 decision of sister team Air21.
Leroy Hickerson, after shaking off jetlag and getting to know his teammates a lot better, shot 38 points, had eight rebounds and the same number of assists and led the Energy to the easy win.
The Energy improved to 3-2 and are now in the upper half of the draw, well within the magic circle of six teams that would advance, while the Express dropped to 1-4 and are just slightly better than the Aces.
“It was a monster game from Leroy,” Barako Bull coach Junnel Baculi said of Hickerson.
Mick Pennisi had 14 points and Doug Kramer 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Energy, who won back-to-back games for the first time even with old hand Danny Seigle still out because of a calf injury.
Alaska actually had control for most of the first half and was looking good despite being forced to a 38-all standout at the end of the first two periods.
Things just fell out of place in the third quarter for the Aces as only import Jason Forte and Cyrus Baguio scored in that span, yielding control to the Llamados, who took a 60-46 lead into the fourth quarter.
It was all over but the shouting from there as the Llamados played in cruise control in the fourth, building leads of as many as 19 and totally snuffing the fight out of the Aces.