PBA: Alaska Aces finally beat Cone's San Mig Coffee Mixers, even up series

(Updated 9:13pm) The Alaska Aces have finally gotten the monkey off their back. The Aces played tremendous defense from the opening tip en route to an easy 86-67 victory over the San Mig Coffee Mixers, as they defeated their former head coach Tim Cone's squad for the first time in 10 tries, Monday at the SM MOA Arena.   More importantly, the Aces tied their best of five Commissioner's Cup semifinals series at one win each. Import Rob Dozier led the Aces with 28 points and 27 rebounds on 13-of-16 shooting from the field. "Finally a breakout win for us," said Alaska head coach Luigi Trillo. "Not to take anything away from my guys, but I think Bowles was a little bit tired. "I think for us it's getting over the hump. What's nice now is that both teams will have a lot of time to heal so there will be no excuses in Game 3," the Alaska coach added. The Aces held the Mixers down to 34.2 percent field goal shooting. This percentage shot up because of late baskets by San Mig in the final quarter, which all came when Alaska's lead was already insurmountable "In the last game, we played well for 45 minutes but we broke down in the last three minutes, which was our fault," Trillo said. In this game, the Aces kept their composure from beginning to end. "They missed a couple of shots and they got deflated," Trillo added. San Mig's struggles were personified by their star guard James Yap, who only shot 2-of-9 from the field for a total of five points. After getting an offensive foul and a technical for throwing an elbow at rookie Calvin Abueva, Yap lost his rhythm. "We need to keep our focus. It's not about James versus Calvin. It's not about Jvee [Casio] versus [Mark] Barroca," said Trillo. The Alaska Aces employed choking defense in the first quarter as they triple-teamed Denzel Bowles every single time he touched the ball. While the Mixers struggled to make their shots, the Aces had no problem converting on theirs. "Stats-wise, we play the same way. Both teams love to play defense. Both teams value possessions," Trillo pointed out. Jvee Casio sank two triples in the first quarter while Robert Dozier was a rock on the boards as he collected 10 caroms in the first quarter alone. The Aces held the Mixers to a horrible 20 percent shooting clip from the field as they took the quarter 24-14. The second period was more of the same for the Aces. They allowed PJ Simon to score 11 points in the quarter, but limited everyone else to just three points. On the other end of the court, it was Dozier who did most of the damage for the Aces, as he dominated the inside en route to 10 markers and a 43-28 halftime lead. At the half, only Simon had scored in double digits for San Mig Coffee. Everyone else, including Bowles, were held to less than four points apiece. Alaska opened the third period by building a 20-point lead, 50-30, by the 8:31 mark. After a basket by Joe Devance, Sonny Thoss scored again down low to rebuild their 20-point lead. Bowles finally sank a field goal after a long drought at the 4:21 mark of the third to somehow cut the Alaska lead down to 18 at 58-40. However, Casio replied with an and-one play to again raise their lead back up to 21. Dozier added a put-back for a 63-40 advantage, while the Mixers were left missing three-point attempts. San Mig head coach Tim Cone was left grasping at straws as he decided to play seldom-used Lester Alvarez in the third quarter. The gamble paid off, as the former Adamson Falcon sank a three at the end of the third quarter to cut the Alaska lead down to 19 at 63-44. Leo Najorda opened the fourth quarter with a basket, which Dozier responded to with his own conversion. The Aces in turn then followed that up with a wicked slam from Calvin Abueva, to bump their lead up to 21 at 67-46. Six straight points from Bowles, Devance, and Yancy De Ocampo cut the lead down to 16 with still more than seven minutes remaining. Devance added another basket at the 6:15 mark for a 70-56 count, still in favor of the Aces. Devance, himself a former Alaska Ace, then converted again, this time on an and-one play to further trim reduce their deficit to 11, but Thoss scored down low to stop the scorching San Mig run. A Simon banker cut the lead back down to 11, but Thoss scored anew to keep their distance. After a Cyrus Baguio miss, Dozier grabbed the rebound over Bowles and slammed it home for a 76-51 lead with only three minutes left in the game. That dunk punctuated a monster game from Dozier and killed any hopes of a San Mig comeback. "Failure is temporary. I believe in my guys. It's nice to see them go out and finally get it," Trillo said. In addition to Dozier, Jvee Casio pumped in 16 points for the Aces, along with four assists, two steals and a block. Sonny Thoss scored 10, while Calvin Abueva chimed in with eight despite a horrid 2-of-14 clip from the field. Joe Devance and PJ Simon led San Mig Coffee with 15 points apiece, while Denzel Bowles scored just eight points, though he also hauled in 17 boards. The two teams will lock horns anew on May 8 after the PBA All-Star break.  - RAF/AMD, GMA News