Blogdyak

It's very unusual to see the Alaska Aces's bench having a new head-coach taking the helm, but it's the reality - it started tonight. However, not all debuts would end up happy as Alaska Aces's new head coach Joel Banal's debut was spoiled by the crowd favorite Brgy. Ginebra Kings in the 37th PBA Philippine Cup sunday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

Eager to bounce back from their opening day loss to Rain Or Shine ElastoPainters, the Kings showed great determination and energy from the opening tip until the final buzzer sounded, notching their first win of the season by beating Alaska Aces 83-72. 

It was a balance attack for the Kings, led by 17 points and 7 rebounds by KG Cañaleta in what was dubbed as his best game in Ginebra uniform. Mark Caguioa finished with 16 points, Mike Cortez with 12 points and JJ Helterbrand scored all of his 7 points in the early minutes of the final quarter, thus increasing their lead to 17 points; from 61-51 to 68-51. 

The Aces seems to be a bit confused on the system, managed to trim down the lead 70-63 with more than 5 minutes to play, but Caguioa ignited an 11-3 blast to put the nail in the coffin. 

Surprisingly, the Aces was led by their rookie Mac Baracael with 20 points while Sonny Thoss finished with 16. Missing in action were L.A Tenorio and Cyrus Baguio whose combined output was only 15 points.