Baguio, Tenorio fanning Aces 'Fiesta' campaign

MANILA, Philippines - Barely two months together, Cyrus Baguio and LA Tenorio seem to have been playing for a long time, alternately taking the lead or, more often, combining to bring the Alaska Aces closer to a cherished goal in the playoffs of the PBA Fiesta Conference.

“We have to work doubly hard to reach our goal,” said Tenorio who with Baguio shared the Accel-PBA Press Corps Co-Players of the Week honors for June 14 to 21.

“We have to do whatever it takes to win,” said Baguio, who was acquired for Willie Miller only last April and, like the heady Tenorio, has consistently put up solid numbers in the week that carried Alaska to back-to-back wins.

“Both players are such keys to our success,” said Aces coach Tim Cone. “They have both been very aggressive and need to continue to stay aggressive for our success in the upcoming playoffs.”

In their team’s victories over Rain or Shine and Sta. Lucia Realty, Baguio averaged 17 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals while Tenorio was equally impressive with 13.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.5 steals.

Those victories improved Alaska’s win-loss record to a fourth-running 11-6 slate, putting it just half a game behind B-Meg Derby Ace and one game adrift of second-running San Miguel Beer.

Should the Aces end their eliminations assignments with another win over the Beermen on Saturday and the Llamados drop one of their last two games, then they tie for the lone remaining automatic semifinals berth.

Using the quotient, the Aces and Beermen will dispute the berth in a playoff with the Llamados relegated to fourth and an outright seat in the best-of-five quarterfinals.

Those are a lot of “ifs” and both Baguio and Tenorio prefer to look at the more concrete side of things.