Alaska destroys KIA by 38, improve to 5-2

MANILA, Philippines – For most of the game, KIA Carnival head assistant coach Chito Victolero either had his hands on his face, or placed on his hips as he shook his head. It was that kind of afternoon for KIA.

Dominated by the stellar play of their opponents on both ends of the floor, the Carnival had their worst loss in franchise history to the Alaska Aces, 101-63, on Friday, June 5, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. 

The win improved Alaska’s record in the Governors’ Cup to 5-2, as they bounced back strong from a surprising defeat to the NLEX Road Warriors on Tuesday. KIA, on the other hand, fell to 3-3 as they suffered their second straight defeat. 

“Today, I just thought it was a superior effort by all the guys on the team,” said Aces head coach Alex Compton, who received a balanced effort on offense from his entire roster. 

Vic Manuel led Aces scorers with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting while import Travis Romeo put up 14 points and 10 rebounds. Rookie Chris Banchero came off the bench and provided 14 points to go with 4 assists, while Dondon Hontiveros went a perfect 4-of-4 from downtown and put up 14 points as well.

Alaska, who went on top 23-12 after the first quarter and cruised the rest of the way to an easy win, limited KIA to 33.3% shooting from the field including 13% from downtown. The Aces made 46.8% of their attempts and went 10-of-17 from long range. 

“I thought our collective consciousness today was all about getting stops,” said Compton, who complimented the play of JVee Casio and Calvin Abueva. 

“I thought his energy also came in and helped boost us,” Compton said Abueva, who finished with 8 points, 15 rebounds, and 6 assists in just 9 minutes. Casio registered 11 points and shot a perfect 3-of-3 from downtown.

“It’s very rare that you’re going to see JVee make mental mistakes,” said Compton. “He’ll miss shots… but it’s very rare he’ll make mistakes based on his mind.” 

KIA was led by Hamady N’Diyae, who put up 18 points and 7 rebounds but left the game in the third quarter after receiving an accidental poke to his eye from Abueva. 

Asian import Jet Chang put up 10 points and grabbed 4 rebounds for the Carnival, who will be back in action on June 10, Wednesday, to take on the Barako Bull Energy. 

Alaska will aim to go 6-2 when they go up against the Meralco Bolts on Tuesday, June 9.

Scores 

ALASKA 101: Manuel 17, Travis 14, Banchero 14, Hontiveros 14, Casio 11, Jazul 9, Abueva 8, Exciminiano 7, Baclao 2, Menk 2, Thoss 2, Dela Rosa 1, Dela Cruz 0, Eman 0, Baguio 0. 

KIA 63: N’Diyae 18, Chang 10, Avenido 7, Dehesa 5, Pascual 4, Alvarez 4, Nuyles 4, Revilla 3, Bagatsing 2, Ighalo 2, Thiele 2, Yee 2, Parreno 0, Buensuceso 0, Webb 0, Deutchman 0.

Quarter Scores: 23-12, 42-30, 70-49, 101-63

– Rappler.com