STRUGGLING ACES TAKE ON INSPIRED EXPRESS
PBA Commissioner’s Cup titleholder Alaska Milk tangles with Air21 as regular PBA Monday action returns by the second week of the mid-season tourney at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Aces might be the defending champs, but the Express set out for the 8 p.m. match the favored squad for their strong start with import Herve Lamizana.
Air21, solid in its debut against GlobalPort and even in a close loss to Talk n Text the last time out, continued to make a good impression as the Express routed the Barako Bull Energy, 103-85, Friday.
Thus by their fourth game in the tourney, the Express have a chance to match the total number of wins they had racked up in the last two conferences.
They logged a 3-11 record in the recent Philippine Cup and a 3-6 mark in the last Governors Cup. They wound up 10th and last in both tourneys.
Alaska coach Luigi Trillo himself is impressed.
“Lamizana makes that team better. And Air21 looks so different taking that leap of faith while adding Jonas Villanueva, Aldrech Ramos, Mike Burtscher and maybe now Rico Villanueva,” said Trillo.
“They’re playing inspired since those changes. (Coach) Franz (Pumaren) has those guys playing hard,” Trillo added.
It’s very evident in Air21’s last game against Barako Bull.
The Express kept Barako Bull import Joshua Dollard in check and battered the Energy in the last three quarters in what’s easily their best game in a long while.
Lamizana, as in his PBA debut, saved his energy for a big second-half explosion and Ramos had his own key salvo in his first game in an Air21 uniform as the Express improved to 2-1 while sending the Energy Cola down to 1-2.
Ramos could be more driven playing against his former team Alaska.
“Aldrech gave us additional scoring from the outside,” said Pumaren of their new trade acquisition who went 4-of-4 from the three-point area and finished with 17 markers against Barako.
Mark Cardona and Asi Taulava also put in double-digit outputs and the rest had their share in a great team effort that had Air21 matching the biggest winning margin in the tourney so far.
From 16-17 down after the first quarter, the Express hit great strides and pummeled the Energy Cola in the last three quarters.
The Aces, meanwhile, have been struggling in the last three conferences.
Even the return of Rob Dozier hasn’t solved Alaska’s woes. (SB)
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
