Aces rebound, upend Chinese 5

BRUNEI — Alaska used a quick start and slowed down its rivals with its pesky defense in the second period to beat Shangdong Jinsidun Lions of China, 84-53, for its first win in the fifth Shell Rimula Cup at the National Indoor Stadium here Monday.

Artemus "Tee" MacClary, who will be Alaska’s reinforcement in the coming PBA Reinforced Conference, dished out a solid performance for the Aces, firing 24 points to power the team to victory that made up for their sorry 82-85 loss to SK Knights of South Korea Sunday night.

Mike Cortez added 13 points and four assists while Brandon Cablay tossed in 11 points and made three steals for the Aces. Reynel Hugnatan chipped in 10 points and had five rebounds.

"He’s fantastic," Cone said of his 31-year old import who already won two PBA titles, one with Talk N Text in the 1998 Centennial Cup and the other with Coca-Cola in the 2003 Reinforced Conference.

"He’s what the doctor ordered for us. He does a lot of the little things, going to the boards, shooting the treys, going to the basket. He’s very unselfish and talks to his teammates a lot," Cone added.

Alaska’s original choice was former Talk n Text import Damien Cantrell but the Aces could not meet his demands and decided to tap the 2003 Reinforced Conference Best Import awardee who is at least three inches shorter in the height ceiling of 6’6 allowed by the league in the coming conference.

Alaska erected an early 27-15 lead after the first quarter with MacClary and Hugnatan matching the total output of the Chinese in that stretch.

Cablay opened up the second period with back-to-back three-pointers and Cortez provided one of the highlights of the game with a no-look behind-the-back pass to Hugnatan for a one-hand slam.

After the first 20 minutes of the contest, the Aces took a commanding 47-22 halftime lead as they held the Chinese to just seven points in the second period with MacClary outscoring the Jinsidun Lions with eight.

To make sure that they won’t crumble this time, the Aces behind their import and Cortez widened the gap after the third, sat on a 70-41 cushion and gave Cone the luxury to rest MacClary in the final quarter in time for a crucial game Tuesday night against Toshiba-Japan, the team that upset the RP-San Miguel Beer the other night.

"We have a big game tomorrow and I was shocked when Toshiba beat the Philippine team," said Cone who handed the Shangdong its third straight loss in as many games.

"Hopefully we can pull this one because we really want to go to the top four and maybe in the finals," Cone added.

The top four teams after the single elimination round will advance in the knockout crossover semifinal round on Saturday and the winner collide in a one-game championship match the following day.

The champion in this weeklong tournament bags the $20,000 with the runner-up gets $10,000. The third and fourth places receive $5,000 each.