MANILA, 6 April 2004 — Except for scary moments in the first two quarters when FedEx kept the game close, the Alaska Aces returned to their dominant form to post a 103-88 win in Joe Lipa’s debut as Express coach on Sunday night in the Gran Matador PBA Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.
A game that was too close to call up until the final minutes of the first half turned into a rout as soon as Alaska import Galen Young and sophomore guard Mike Cortez led a run that had the Aces pulling away steadily, 65-58, in the third quarter.
“I told the guys sometime in the third quarter that we were just one two-minute run away from breaking the game wide open. I’m glad we got in a few stops and hit some baskets toward the end of the third. We never got into trouble after that,” said Alaska coach Tim Cone.
Young led Alaska with 31 points and also had 15 rebounds, while Ali Peek had 21 and 14 boards. Mike Cortez backed them up with 15 as the Aces rebounded from a loss against unbeaten leader San Miguel to improve to 6-3 (win-loss).
The Express fell to 2-6.
Despite the lopsided ending, Cone was still all praises for FedEx and its coach, who is making a return to the league after an absence of over a decade.
Young’s jumper with barely nine minutes remaining gave Alaska its biggest taste of the lead at 84-65. Lipa, whose last coaching stint in the league was with Shell in 1994, couldn’t hide his disappointment after the loss.
At least, Lipa, who assumed the reins following Bonnie Garcia’s surprise resignation on Thursday, acceded to the weird order of management to use all 12 players in each game. An interesting subplot in Sunday night’s game was the pre-match question as to whether Lipa would use former Ateneo gunner Wesley Gonzales. The two had a falling out when Lipa coached the Blue Eagles, and went as far as Lipa striking off the talented swingman from the Ateneo roster for one season.
Talk N’ Text, meanwhile, kept Siot Tanquingcen winless in his fourth game as Ginebra coach, dealing the Kings a heartbreaking 91-89 setback in the other half of the Sunday double-header.
While Talk N’ Text tied Alaska in second spot, Ginebra slipped to 3-6 after losing its fifth game in a row — a streak that actually began with former coach Allan Caidic and grew worse with each game under Tanquingcen. Jerald Honeycutt, Talk N’ Text’s wide-bodied import, drilled in a triple that gave the Pals a 90-88 lead on the way to the team’s sixth win in nine outings.
“Honeycutt is a big, big addition to the team. He helps out his teammates during games and in practice. He’s a leader and his being there is enough to make us better,” said Talk N’ Text coach Joel Banal. The Phone Pals are now 2-1 under Honeycutt.
Honeycutt fouled out with 52 ticks remaining but the Kings could not take advantage. Eric Menk missed a free throw that could have tied the match, Torraye Braggs lost a rebound play with a baseline error that threw away Ginebra’s chances of a game-tying possession and, when the Kings had the chance to tie with 2.7 seconds remaining, fumbled a Bal David pass to seal his team’s doom.
The Kings have dropped five straight games, four under coach Siot Tanquingcen, who is still winless since replacing Allan Caidic as head coach of the league’s most popular team.
