Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette MANILA — The curse of coach Tim Cone continued to plague the Alaska Aces. Since Cone suddenly left Alaska to join the San Mig Coffee Mixers at the start of the 2011-2012 PBA season, the Aces still have to score a win against their former mentor's new team after seven tries. On Wednesday night, the Mixers once again showed their mastery over the Aces, handily winning, 75-68, in the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. It was San Mig Coffee's third straight win while Alaska suffered its first defeat after five consecutive victories. With the loss, the Aces yielded solo first place and now share the lead with idle Petron Blaze. San Mig Coffee continued its torrid climb from the bottom of the pile and now shares fourth to sixth place with Meralco and idle Barako Bull, all with a 3-3 win-loss card. After falling behind 12-18, the Mixers whipped up a storm, surging ahead 40-28 at halftime. San Mig Coffee stayed hot after the break and even led by as much as 24 points, 60-36, in the third quarter. With its suffocating defense, San Mig Coffee held Alaska scoreless for almost nine minutes in that quarter. The Aces could not get their game going until late in the second half when they came charging back. But the closest the Aces could get was 65-73 with 1:47 left in the game. Last season's best import winner Denzel Bowles put exclamation marks to the San Mig victory with an emphatic follow-up dunk and then a block on Alaska's Robert Dozier in the ensuing play. The Aces were only a shadow of the team that demolished the mighty Talk N Text Tropang Texters, 92-69, last week. Alaska lost the battle against San Mig Coffee on all fronts. The Aces were ice-cold in offense, hitting just 30.6 percent of their shots (22 out of 72) and sinking just three of 18 three-point shot attempts. They were also outrebounded, 54-45, by the more athletic and determined Mixers. San Mig Coffee had five players in double figures led by Bowles, who finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and four blocks. James Yap added 11 points, while Mark Barroca, Joe Devance, and P.J. Simon had 10 points each. Dozier led Alaska with 16 points and 18 rebounds, while Sonny Thoss and R.J. Jazul had 10 points each. The Alaska spearhead of Cyrus Baguio and Calvin Abueva combined for a measly 13 points. In the first game of the Wednesday double-header, Chris Ross redeemed himself after committing two early mistakes, sinking two pressure-packed free throws and then making a crucial steal to power the Meralco Bolts to a nerve-rattling 89-88 win against the Air21 Express. The Bolts won their second straight game and improved to 3-3. Eric Dawson led Meralco with 35 points, 17 rebounds, and three steals. For the second straight game, Sunday Salvacion played solid basketball, contributing 18 points, including 6-of-9 from beyond the arc. The Bolts nearly threw the game away after leading by 15 points, 69-54, in the third quarter. A 15-2 run allowed the Express to grab an 88-85 lead. But two crucial turnovers in the closing minutes of the game allowed the Bolts to score the last four points of the game for the win. Air21's Michael Dunigan led all scorers with 40 points. But this was not enough to save the Express who suffered their fifth loss in six games, joining idle Barangay Ginebra at the bottom of the standings.
