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Aces, E-Painters take 1-0 edge

High-flying Cyrus Baguio stood at the forefront of Alaska's early charge Wednesday night. Then Gabby Espinas, Sonny Thoss and Tony Dela Cruz teamed up to provide the finishing kick against Meralco.

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Banking on steady plays down the stretch, the Aces held off the late-charging Bolts 90-84 to draw first blood in their best-of-three quarterfinal series in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The 6-foot-2 Baguio scattered a game-high of 26 points plus eight rebounds and four assists while getting enough support from their frontline in the payoff period as the Aces overcame the ejection of ace rookie Calvin Abueva due to foul trouble while moving a step closer to the semifinal round.

Espinas ably filled up the shoes left by Abueva, pumping in 19 points, while Dela Cruz racked up 13 markers and the 6-foot-7 center Thoss had 10, with the three combining for 24 rebounds while taking turns in coming up with big plays to help the Aces' cause.

Abueva, the second overall pick in this year's rookie draft and currently in the hunt for the Best Player of the Conference award, settled for just six points, four rebounds and an assist before heading early to the showers at the 9:46 mark of the fourth when the Bolts started to chop at the Aces' once 22-point bubble.

“I told them at the half that Meralco puts a lot of pressure on their man-to-man (defense)," noted Alaska coach Luigi Trillo. "They tried to dictate the tempo that way but it’s good we were patient and we played to our strengths.

While crediting Baguio as "awesome tonight and was pretty steady for us and very mature in what he’s doing," Trillo stressed the series is far from over, stating: "One game is nothing. We did our job today and we’re gonna get back to work in practice tomorrow."

Although getting a sub-par outing from Abueva, the Aces still appeared sharp, with Baguio leading the way then taking what seemed to be an insurmountable 69-47 cushion off a JVee Casio daring lay-up at the 3:13 mark in the third.

Then the Bolts clawed back behind a 21-7 counterattack, pulling within 68-76 off Cardona's five straight points including a big trey with less than eight minutes to go.

Espinas, Dela Cruz and Thoss, however, kept them at bay, conspiring for the Aces' next eight points to restore their lead at 84-70 with 4:32 left.

Mercado just wouldn't quit though, racking up eight straight points, six from beyond the arc, before a Cliff Hodge bucket inched Meralco closer at 80-86, time down to just 80 seconds.

Espinas, however, came through with another bucket as the Aces showed steely nerves to hang on.

Earlier, Rain or Shine employed a suffocating defensive blanket against Barangay Ginebra to turn a tight game into a virtual workout, coasting to an 82-65 win.

Ace gunner Jeff Chan struggled for just a solitary point, missing all his eight attempts, but the rest of the Elasto Painters proved up to the challenge, thanks mainly to a near impenetrable defense that clearly threw the Gin Kings off-balanced notably in the second half.

Rain or Shine, which finished third in the 14-game, inter-intra eliminations with a 9-5 mark, showcased another offensive balanced attack but it was his team's unforgiving defensive job, limiting the sixth-ranked Kings  to a horrendous 22-of-72 (30.6 percent) clip from the field, that pleased coach Yeng Guiao the most.

“We played defense tonight the way we planned to play defense," he noted. "We didn’t expect this to be easy, but everyone was active.”

Hardworking forward Jervy Cruz tallied 14 points and eight boards while Paul Lee and Beau Belga contributed 11 apiece for the E-Painters, who pulled away via a staggering 18-to-nothing onslaught in the third canto to gain a whopping 59-31 spread, but never let up until the final buzzer.

Reigning league MVP Mark Caguioa topscored with 16 points but muffed nine of his 13 attempts from the field and even threw his protective goggles in disgust in the stretch. Seldom-used Keith Jensen emerged as the other Gin King to post double-figures, chipping in 13 points.

“Defensively, everybody did their job. Rebounding-wise, we took care of business in terms of sharing the boards. It’s also good we were able to take LA (Tenorio) and Mark (Caguioa) out of their rhythm. But again, I’m sure they’ll be back in the second game,” he added.

Despite a relatively smaller crew, Rain or Shine outrebounded its counterpart 55-53, highlighted by 14 off the offensive glass that gave them 12 second-chance points.

The Aces and the E-Painters can close out their respective with another pair of victories on Friday.