Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette MANILA — In a classic battle of two giants, the surging Alaska Aces found themselves in the end standing over the fallen Talk N Text Tropang Texters, having brought down the erstwhile undefeated defending champions, 94-92, in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum Friday. Ironically, the smallest man on the court, the 5'10" JVee Casio, delivered the biggest punch against Talk N Texters, leading all scorers with 25 points, including three consecutive three-pointers and the winning basket in the homestretch. Casio's offensive fireworks allowed the Aces to overcome an 11-point TNT lead with six minutes remaining as the streaking Aces nailed their fifth straight win after losing their first two games to grab the solo second spot in the standings. Talk N Text remained at the top with a 6-1 win-loss card. Casio got ample support from Cyrus Baguio and super-rookie Calvin Abueva who contributed 16 and 14 points, respectively. Abueva also had five rebounds, four assists, and five steals in another scintillating display of all-around prowess. Alaska head coach Luigi Trillo was all praise for Casio, their starting point guard whom Alaska got after trading LA Tenorio to the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings. “He made us look good single-handedly like that," Trillo said. The victory was extra special for the Aces since that was their first win against the Texters since 2009. Jimmy Alapag led the Texters with 17 points, while Ranidel de Ocampo chipped in with 15. The last few sequences in the game were nerve-wracking. With Talk N Text up by 11, 83-72, 6:04 remaining, Baguio scored four straight points on back-to-back drives. Then Casio converted on a rare four-point play to cut the lead to two, 83-81. Larry Fonacier answered back for the Texters with a triple of his own to pad TNT's lead to five at 86-81. But Casio banged in two straight three-pointers to give the Aces the lead, 87-86. Alapag countered with three free throws to give TNT back the lead, 89-87. Kelly Williams split his charities to make it 90-87 for TNT. But Abueva found himself open and coolly swished in a three-pointer to tie the game, 90-all. Two free throws by Williams broke the tie, but Baguio struck back with a drive to tie the game anew with 28.6 seconds left. After De Ocampo's shot bounced off the rim with 5.3 seconds left, the Aces found themselves with the golden opportunity to win the game. And they did. After receiving the inbounds pass, Casio slipped through the Texters' defense with a dashing drive to the basket to grab the lead back to Alaska. With 2.4 seconds left, the Texters still had the chance to either send the game into overtime or win it outright, but Fonacier's short jumper went in and out as the Aces celebrated yet another impressive victory. In the first match of the Friday double-header, the tail-ender Air21 Express scored a huge upset win, routing the talent-laden Petron Blaze Boosters, 97-76. It was only Air21's second win in seven games as their two top frontliners – Mark Isip and Rob Reyes – dominated the shaded lane in the absence of Petron's two injured centers, Junemar Fajardo and Danny Ildefonso. Isip led the Express with 22 points and seven rebounds while Rob Reyes had 17 points and six rebounds. Arwind Santos led Petron with 15 points and 14 rebounds as the Boosters suffered their fourth defeat in seven games.
