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Thursday, June 26, 2003
Pals, Coca-Cola take 2-1 semis advantage
By Patrick C. Costelo
Sun.Star Correspondent
THE Alaska Aces were rolling like a well-oiled scoring machine, controlling the tempo after a furious first half before suddenly running out of ammo when they needed it most.
Talk ‘N Text, on the other hand, fired off with a decisive 17-0 run at the start of the fourth period to take a 2-1 lead in the PBA’s All-Filipino Cup best-of- five semifinals against the Aces after an 87-68 Game 3 win last night at the Philsports Arena.
Second to grab a 2-1 edge, were the Coca-Cola Tigers, who thrashed the Sta. Lucia Realtors, 90-84, with energy personified Rudy Hatfield taking the endgame honors with 16 points, 17 rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Patrick Fran, who bailed out the Phone Pals from beyond the arc in Game 1, provided the fourth-quarter spark after knocking back-to-back treys, shifting the momentum, which the Aces gathered at the end of the third.
Fran finished with 13 points, six assists and four rebounds hitting 3-of-4 triples and shutting down Alaska’s No.1 offensive option John Arigo in the final 12 minutes.
Arigo capped Alaska’s first half of play with a running 3-pointer to take the Aces on top by four, 45-49, breaking away for the first time.
Arigo, who was a revelation in the series’ first two games, scoring 35 in Game 1 and 32 last Sunday, was hot from outside logging 17 first-half points but almost completely disappeared in the fourth quarter.
After a 55-all deadlock midway the third frame, Jimmy Alapag outplayed Mike Cortez to led a short but effective 8-2 run to take the lead for good into the fourth, 68-62.
Ali Peek and EJ Feihl provided quality minutes in the first half containing Asi Taulava and pushing the top rebounder away from the paint. But with Harvey Carey on the Prowl, Talk ‘N Text had a lot of second-chance points, which kept the Aces close after Tim Cone’s boys smoked with an impressive 61 percent first-half clip.
Taulava was hammered and bothered by Alaska’s double team but hard work finally paid off as he quietly logged 21 points and seven rebounds, highlighting the Aces comeback win.
(June 26, 2003 issue)
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