Aces, Llamados go for clincher vs Kings, Bolts

MANILA, Philippines - Alaska Milk and B-MEG Derby Ace, last year’s champion teams seeking to finish on top the heap again, go for the clincher today against their respective rivals in the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Aces try to complete a two-game sweep of the Barangay Ginebra Kings in their 5 p.m. tussle while the Llamados hope to apply the broom against the Meralco Bolts B-Boys in their 7:30 p.m. tiff.

Alaska and Derby Ace pushed Ginebra and Meralco to the brink Wednesday in taking the leads in their short best-of-three quarters duels.

The Aces now look to arrange a semifinal confrontation with the San Miguel Beermen while the Llamados gun for a semis slot versus the Talk n Text Tropang Texters.

The Texters and the Beermen, the elimination round top notchers, secured the first two slots in the Final Four after easing out the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and the Air21 Express, respectively, Friday.

“Needless to say, we’d like to take care of business now and avoid a deciding Game Three,” said Alaska coach Tim Cone.

“Obviously, the absence of Jayjay Helterbrand and Eric Menk impacted the play of Ginebra and gave us an edge. We’re hoping we can work off the momentum we established with the first game win,” Cone added.

“Again, we have to play aggressive basketball for 48 minutes. We have to limit their big men from scoring inside, stop their transition plays and dominate the boards for them not to be able to run,” said Derby Ace coach Jorge Gallent.

Ginebra and Meralco, however, are not about to give up.

“We’re focused on getting it to a Game Three,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico.

“We are staying on course. We are confident in the fact that we have significantly narrowed the gap between an elite team and our 3 1/2 -month-old franchise,” said Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio.

“Yes, we lost the game but we fought till the end until we lost steam after playing five overtimes in 72 hours. We like our progress, we like our competitive spirit and we will continue to hope until the fighting is over,” Gregorio added.

Peter June Simon sizzled with 35 points and Derby Ace outlasted Meralco, 106-97, in a double-overtime struggle in Game One.

In the other match-up, Joe De Vance erupted for a career-best 30 points and the Aces played tough in the crunch for a 104-101 win over the Kings.

“It’s nice to win a game in the fourth quarter. We finally got one in this conference and it came at the right time,” said Cone.

“Best of three is a sprint. You’ve got to be ready to go and go right away. The good news is that after playing back-to-back games, we have four days to recharge and be ready to go again,” Cone added.

De Vance went 3-of-6 from the three-point area, 9-of-16 from the two-point zone and 3-of-7 from the stripe and also came through with 10 rebounds and five assists.

Cyrus Baguio, Tony dela Cruz, Sonny Thoss, Mark Borboran and LA Tenorio added double-digit outputs as the Aces sustained the momentum of a two-game closing run in the elims, avenging a 68-79 loss to the Kings last Nov. 14.

The Aces squandered a 14-point spread but won’t crumble down, beating the Kings with a strong finishing kick.