Struggling Kia Picanto absorbs another crushing defeat in PBA Philippine Cup
Shooting well and defending unforgivably in the second half, Alaska made KIA Picanto look so awful and scored a 102-65 victory yesterday for its first winning streak in the PBA Philippine Cup – and in a long, long while, for that matter – at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
With their defense loose in the first two cantos, the Aces allowed the Picanto to tug at their coattails somewhat, only to come out of the halftime break with total focus on both ends that made the Picanto look like they didn’t belong in this league.
“I thought our defense was a little undirected in the first half,” coach Alex Compton said after the first half closed with the Aces leading by just 39-34. “In the second half, it was a little more focused.”
That defense held the Picanto to five third quarter points, KIA’s lowest output in a quarter, ever.
It was, without a doubt, the finest, sharpest form that the Aces displayed in quite a while, and that clean slate that Compton talked about at the start of the year now has two victories in as many games as Alaska rose to a level 2-2 (win-loss) card.
“If I could find a way to bottle what we did in the third quarter, that would give us a good chance (of beating the top contenders in the tournament),” Compton said with a smile.
Compton’s offense was also on full throttle in the last two frames, as they scored 63, just two shy of KIA’s total game output, with rookie Jeron Teng shooting 23 points.