"Winning the first game is key. It helps you set the tone. If you lose it you’ll have to play from behind," said coach Tim Cone after the ice-breaking victory in the PBA’s 29th season at the Araneta Coliseum.
A lot of players came to play for Alaska and they were all worth watching — from old hands John Arigo, Ali Peek and Don Allado to rookies Brandon Cablay, Mike Cortez and Stephen Padilla.
"As a team, our expectations are high. We’re young and if we can only sustain this, then there’s no doubt we can run with the other teams," said Arigo whose back-to-back triples midway in the fourth quarter helped break the backs of the weary Realtors.
A 12-2 run that ended shortly before the two-minute warning finally settled the issue as the Milkmen raced to an 89-77 lead and won with Cone comfortably seated on the bench.
A tremendous 39-0 advantage in off-the-bench scoring also did the trick for the Milkmen, who got the better end of their matchup with their "homegrown" opponents. No Realtor outside of the starters managed to score a single point.
Cortez, the former La Salle quarterback, saw action for 39 minutes and got a good feel of the game. He wound up with nine points on a couple of difficult drives and had nine assists, two rebounds, a steal and a block.
"I’m not used to a 48-minute game but I had fun out there. It just feels nice to get back to a competitive game," said Cortez who took a long break before being made this year’s top pick.
After a jittery opening minute for both teams, the Realtors buckled down to work and, trailing 2-4, unleashed a steady 16-5 run for the biggest lead of the half at 18-9. All five starters for Sta. Lucia scored at least a basket and shared the team’s first 10 points although Duremdes failed to carry on as he missed his next eight shots from the field.
Sensing trouble, Alaska called a timeout and came out of it wide awake with Cortez, Peek, Arigo and Cablay helping the team back in the thick of the fight midway in second quarter.
Then came rookie Stephen Padilla off the bench to spark an Alaska flurry. He nailed three straight triples all from the right wing, the last off a double-teaming Jason Webb making it 39-39, only a few ticks left in the half.
In only three minutes of first-half action, Padilla, a hotshot from the defunct MBA, didn’t miss a shot and finished with nine points and a defensive rebound.
Arigo was fouled by Jomar Tierra as he tried to beat the first-half buzzer with a triple. He went to the stripe, nailed three straight charities and gave the lead back to Alaska, 42-39.