MANILA: Talk 'N Text coach Chot Reyes couldn't have come up with a better way to describe how LA Tenorio played — and tormented his squad last night.
"He (Tenorio) ate our point guards for breakfast," Reyes said, still in awe at how the Alaska quarterback dominated his entire guard rotation that led to a 102-95 victory by the Aces over his Tropang Texters for a 1-0 lead in their Philippine Cup title series.
"LA ate them, chewed them and then spat them out," Reyes said, referring to the way Tenorio scored a career-high 27 points and kept the Aces together in a game at the Araneta Coliseum where Alaska was able to assert its defensive mentality.
Tenorio scored a string of four key points in a 27-second span that gave the Aces a 94-89 lead heading into the final 2:03, a huge enough cushion considering how close the game was all night.
"I see a lot of Johnny (Abarrientos) in LA," said Alaska coach Tim Cone in heaping the ultimate praise for the pint-sized point guard by comparing Tenorio with the former Alaska guard who is one of the league's all-time greats.
"Right now, what we are thinking is just winning the next one. We will not go anywhere beyond that."
Tenorio scored 15 of his total in the first half when the Aces tried to keep in step with the fast-starting Texters. He then had eight points in the final frame as Alaska 's defense won over the offense-minded Talk 'N Text side to wrest control.
And Tenorio got a lot of help, with four other Aces scoring 11 or more and Sonny Thoss and Tony dela Cruz helping immensely in controlling the boards by plucking down a combined 29 rebounds.
Talk 'N Text, though, was also far from being perfect, committing a conference-high 27 turnovers which led to a total of 21 points off turnovers and 17 fastbreak points.
"You cannot defend on fastbreaks off turnovers," Reyes said. "And Alaska is way too disciplined to let those chances slip away. I think that was they key and we have to address that for Friday (Game 2 tomorrow)."
Alaska also threw a defensive blanket that Mac Cardona didn't come close to breaking, holding the prolific swingman to just 14 points and forcing him to commit eight turnovers.
Coming into the game, Cardona led the Texters in scoring with slightly over 20 points a contest.
It was also the first time in their last nine games, counting the six in the semifinals against San Miguel, that the Texters were not able to score more than 100 points. In fact, they didn't even come close to it last night.
Rookie Jason Castro scored 18 points and Harvey Carey tossed in 17 and 15 rebounds for the Texters. Jimmy Alapag was held to just 12 points after making just two of 10 attempts from beyond the three-point line.
Sta. Lucia earlier won the battle for the crumbs, bagging third place at the expense of San Miguel, 99-97.
Dennis Miranda found himself as the unlikely anchor in the game-winning play, hitting a floating short stab from the right baseline with 1:31 left which eventually rounded out scoring.
It was the fourth third place finish for the Sta. Lucia franchise and the fourth straight loss for the Beermen in such a game. The loss also stalled San Miguel from becoming just the first team to win 1,000 games in the league.
Dennis Espino led all Sta. Lucia shooters with 21 points, while Kelly Williams had 15 and 14 rebounds as the Realtors, dethroned by Alaska last Sunday, at least got to exit the season-opening tournament on a winning note.
"It was a good run for us, even though we fell short by two wins of making the Finals," said Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez. "We encountered so many problems and injuries during the course of the eliminations and the playoffs.
"But the important thing is that my boys never gave up."
Meanwhile, former Ginebra San Miguel guard Leo Isaac will handle the Red Bull team, which will also carry a new name when the Fiesta Cup, an import-flavored event, opens Feb. 28.
Isaac, according to team board representative Tony Chua, has agreed in principle to handle the team, which will then be known as Barako Bull, a local energy drink to be manufactured by the company.
Also in another development, John Arigo, the former Alaska and Coca-Cola hotshot who is now a free agent, is close to signing a pact with Barako Bull, though the details were not divulged by Chua.
