Casio helps Aces demolish Texters in Philippine Cup

Alaska needed to play big to put a stop to Talk ‘N Text’s rip-roaring PBA Philippine Cup run, and the Aces got the smallest man in their lineup to loom largest for them in the endgame.
J.V. Casio, a 5-foot-8 guard, demolished the Texters almost all by himself in the stretch on Thursday night as the Aces stopped Talk ‘N Text dead on its tracks with a 94-92 victory before a thrilled Araneta Coliseum crowd.
Casio hit 10 straight points on three straight triples and a rare four-point play that got the Aces erasing an 11-point fourth quarter deficit, before hitting the game-winning layup that sealed their fifth straight win for 5-2 and second place overall.
It was the first loss in seven games for the defending champion Texters, who blew command after going cold for a three-minute stretch.
Talk ‘N Text remained in the lead despite the loss, but the Texters will definitely remember this one for a long time.
“What can you say? He (Casio) made us look good singlehandedly like that,” Alaska coach Luigi Trillo told reporters after the point guard they acquired from Globalport in the LA Tenorio trade finished with 25 points on 6-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. “It’s just one game, another win,” Trillo added. “And in the PBA, you can’t get excited too much about certain things.” Alaska closed out the game with a 22-9 run, getting another triple from super rookie Calvin Abueva, and catching a break at the buzzer when Larry Fonacier’s jumper, which could have forged overtime for the Texters, mercilessly rattled out.
“Coach Norman (Black of Talk ‘N Text) drew up a good play in the end,” Trillo said of the last offensive by the Texters that gave Fonacier a shot. “Sometimes it’s just like that – breaks. We were also lucky.” Abueva tied it all up at 90 with 69 seconds left by connecting on a wide-open triple from top-of-the-key. He fouled out in the next Talk ‘N Text offensive when he tagged a driving Kelly Williams, who ushered the Texters to a 92-90 lead with 46.6 left.
But Cyrus Baguio, left as the Aces’ leader with the departure of Tenorio, who ultimately found his way to Barangay Ginebra, was credited for a layup after Williams was called for a goal-tending violation with 28.6 left.
The Texters had a chance to ease out front again, only for Ranidel de Ocampo to miss a jumper from deep right corner. Alaska called for time after Baguio snared the rebound, and drew up a great play that gave Casio the ball in the last 5.3 seconds.
Casio received the inbounds pass from Tony dela Cruz and never stopped running, zipping past Jimmy Alapag and then Williams inside the paint to connect on the game-winner with 2.6 ticks left on the clock.
The Alaska win completely overshadowed the upset posted by Air21 over Petron Blaze earlier in the night, when the Express got five players scoring in double figures of a 97-76 demolition job of the powerhouse Boosters.
Mark Isip scattered 22 points and Rob Reyes made his first seven attempts before finishing with 17 as the Express led by as many as 25 in posting their most impressive win of the season.
“We made adjustments after our last game against Alaska, and that was to limit our turnovers,” Franz Pumaren, the Air21 coach, said. “The way we throw the ball away (in our past games), it’s a no-brainer that we are losing.” Coming into the contest, the Express turned the ball over 19.6 times a contest. Last night, Air21 committed just 10, spelling the difference.
Air21 improved to 2-5 in snapping its four-game losing streak, while the Boosters lost for the first time in three games and dropped to 3-4 overall.
The loss was also the first since Olsen Racela assumed solo coaching responsibilities for Petron.