Aces take opener vs Hotdogs

Alaska Milk parried all the offensive threats Purefoods had in its arsenal, then came up with what it does best – defend solidly under pressure – to keep the Hotdogs at bay and win Game one of their best-of-seven title series for the PBA-Samsung Governors Cup with a 79-73 victory last night at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Aces went without a field goal in the final three minutes of play but tightened the rope on the Hotdogs and forced them into a maze of errors in the final stretch.

The turning point of the game came in the last 45 seconds when the Aces, up by three points at 74-71, applied a leechlike defense on the Hotdogs, forcing pointguard Ronnie Magsanoc to dribble all over the court looking for an open receiver and found none as the 23-second clock winded down.

The Aces also did a good job handcuffing the prolific Derrick Brown who made only eight of 21 field goal attempts although he came through with seven-of-seven from the free throw line.

"The key here is that we did a good job on (Derrick) Brown," said Alaska coach Tim Cone. "We know that he’s the focal point of Purefoods’ offense so we just clamped down on him the whole of the game." Brown, the hero in the Hotdogs’ 78-75 win over the Coca-Cola Tigers in Game 5 of the semifinal series, exploded with nine of his game-high 35 points in the fourth quarter but missed two important ones in the homestretch..

Youthful John Arigo’s triple and rookie Miguel Noble’s basket defused a Purefoods rally early in the final period and stretched a shaky 67-62 led to 72-61, a lead the Aces kept a couple of plays later through baskets of Don Allado, 74-64.

Kelvin Price’s three-point play, a basket and two free throws by Brown pushed the Hotdogs nearer, 71-74, before the Aces tightened the screw to stop Ryan Gregorio’s Cinderella run.

Gregorio, bidding to be the third youngest coach to win a PBA crown, said his team was simply outplayed in the crucial minutes.

"They outplayed and outdefended us. They came out with a lot of intensity especially in the endgame," said Gregorio, who is the Hotdogs’ interim coach while Eric Altamirano is with the Busan Asian Games-bound RP cage squad.

Purefoods had a chance to trim a 74-71 Alaska led but Price was called for palming in a jump ball play against a smaller Jojo Lastimosa.

James Head, who is instrumental in a run connecting the third and fourth quarters that gave the Aces a 64-53 edge, Lastimosa and Ron Riley scored five foul shots that nailed down the final nail on the Purefoods coffin.

Ron Hale made a good account of himself well in what could be his last game as he powered Coca-Cola to a third place finish with a 75-63 triumph over sister team San Miguel Beer.

Reportedly setting his sights on the National Basketball Association training Camp in August, Hale exploded with 15 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter.