Alaska whips Shell

ANTIPOLO -- Alaska Milk, with Kenneth Duremdes and Bong Hawkins spearheading the team's bid, proved too much for a badly-undermanned Shell Velocity team, hacking out a 76-66 win in their Alaxan PBA All-Filipino Cup road game at the newly-built Ynares Center here.

Duremdes came up with a near triple-double job with 18 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists while Hawkins backed him up with 15 points, six assists and four rebounds as the Milkmen kept their mastery of the Zoom Masters, seizing solo fourth place on their fourth win in seven games.

The Zoom Masters struggled all the more with Gerry Esplana and Rommel Santos joining Benjie Paras in sickbay as they suffered their sixth loss against a lone victory.

Alaska actually also played minus ace pointguard Johnny Abarrientos but enjoyed solid games from Duremdes and Hawkins as it broke free from a four-way logjam at fourth place with idle Purefoods and Mobiline.

The Milkmen made it two in a row minus Abarrientos, who's out with a partial medial collateral ligament tear, as they beat the Zoom Masters for the sixth time in their last seven matches.

Alaska restamped its class on Shell despite also losing Poch Juinio with still five minutes left to play on an elbow foul on Mark Clemence Telan.

Telan probably got the ire of Juinio as the former La Salle standout outclassed the Alaska slotman in their matchup, scoring heavily on inside incursions.

Telan, together with Jun Marzan and Brix Encarnacion, carried the fight for Shell with the 6-foot-5 former Tanduay Rhum Master finishing with a double-double performance (21 points, 12 rebounds).

Shell fought Alaska on even terms in the first three quarters of play but the Zoom Masters slowly faded out as the Milkmen stepped up their drive in the payoff period.

Back-to-back baskets by Rodney Santos capped a decisive 11-2 run that had the Milkmen taking control at 63-56, entering the final stretch.

Meanwhile, Tanduay Rhum seeks to get back on track while Mobiline tries to sustain the momentum of its big turnaround when they take on separate rivals in the resumption of games tonight at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Rhum Masters collide with the Barangay Ginebra Kings at 4:15 p.m., then the Phone Pals clash with the Purefoods Hotdogs at 6:30 p.m.

Smothered by San Miguel Beer in their highly-emotional matchup Sunday, Tanduay is likely to come back strong in a bid to regain its winning ways versus Ginebra.

Despite their 67-76 loss to the Beermen, the Rhum Masters, however, remain atop the heap with a 6-1 win-loss card. A win today over the Gin Kings will move the Asia Brewery Inc. franchise closer to getting a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinal round.

"Medyo masakit din ang talo namin sa San Miguel. But the season is still long siguro magkikita pa rin kami uli. Our focus now in on our next games. We're looking forward to getting back on track against Ginebra," said Tanduay coach Alfrancis Chua.

Looking to stretch their searing streak, meanwhile, are the Phone Pals against the Hotdogs.

The two teams are tied with similar 3-3 marks but Mobiline sets out the odds-on pick with the Phone Pals coming off three straight big wins over the Sta. Lucia Realtors, the Red Bull Energizers and the Pop Cola 800s.

The Phone Pals have made a big turnaround from a falterring start that they won their last three games by an average winning margin of 25.6 points.

"We can't do anything wrong lately. Maybe it's because the team is playing relax now. May chemistry na dahil medyo ilang games na rin silang magkakasama," said Mobiline coach Eric Altamirano.