Alaska stuns fancied SMB

Alaska Milk came out armed to the teeth versus the highly-fancied San Miguel Beer squad last night, fashioning out a 75-66 stunner in the opener of their best-of-five showdown in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Final Four at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Aces clogged the paint to neutralize San Miguel’s inside strength and ran their triangle offense so well as they stopped the Beermen on their tracks to gain the headstart in the short series.

"Going into the game, we’re not thinking of anything but to battle the best we can. We battled well and we hope to battle better the next time in a bid to put their back to the wall," said Alaska coach Tim Cone.

"In playoffs, the important things are defense and execution. We played well on offense, disallowing Danny Ildefonso to make us crazy, and we executed our offensive patterns so well too," he added.

The Aces did neutralize Ildefonso and enjoyed some breaks with the San Miguel gunners muffing a number of open shots that could have brought the Beermen back to the game in the fourth quarter.

More impressive was Purefoods in a 91-75 rout of Red Bull at the start of their own series later in the night.

"We came off a big over Tanduay in the quarters and we simply seized the moment tonight. Our bench gave our starters a good rest in the second quarter. We seized the momentum in the third and went on to play well on both ends in the final quarter," said Purefoods coach Eric Altamirano.

With Ildefonso held down to 10 points, Danny Seigle, Olsen Racela, Dwight Lago and Nate Johnson couldn’t compensate from the longcourt as they converted only five of 26 three-point attempts.

The Aces, meanwhile, played a good passing game and chose their shots wisely, getting away with 26 assists and hitting on a 53-percent clip. The Beermen had only 11 assists and struggled for 31 percent from the field.

Alaska broke the game open at 71-55 coming from a close 56-51 count at the end of the third quarter as it unleashed a decisive run while watching the Beermen go 0-of-9 from the field in the first six minutes of the final period. San Miguel’s first four points in the period were all made from the stripe.

Curiously, the Aces cut loose with main man Kenneth Duremdes resting on the bench.

Duremdes scored a game-high 18 points and also tallied six assists and three rebounds as he provided the firepower for Alaska in the first and the third quarters.

Sean Chambers, playing on borrowed time with original Alaska import Terrance Badgett still in the injured list, came up with a near triple-double job with 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

Ali Peek and Don Allado also had big numbers got most of the credit from their coach for their defensive jobs on Ildefonso.

Peek and Allado outscored Ildefonso and Dorian Peña, 32-10. The two Alaska big men also combined for 12 rebounds and six assists.

Duremdes scattered 10 of his output in the first period, and with Peek knocking in eight inside the paint, the Milkmen built a double-digit spread at 23-11.

That proved to be too big a lead for the Beermen to overcome as they played catch up the rest of the way, closing to within five, 51-56, at the end of the third period, only to run into a tough Alaska defense in the fourth.