(CNN Philippines) — The Alaska Aces began their Governors’ Cup campaign with a 106-80 rout of Blackwater Elite in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) on Tuesday evening (May 5) at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
Import Romeo Travis scored 18 points, on 7-of-11 shots, and grabbed 12 rebounds for Alaska. Guards JVee Casio and Chris Banchero had 13 apiece, while Cyrus Baguio added 12.
Blackwater had a two-point lead early in the game before Alaska went on 16-5 run to move into the driver’s seat at the end of the first quarter, 26-17.
Banchero, along with Calvin Abueva, turned up the heat in the second period as the Aces extended their cushion to 14 points, 55-41, at halftime.
Related: Alaska coach Compton sees no problem playing sans Asian import
Behind Banchero and Abueva’s contributions, Alaska outscored Blackwater’s bench, 26-7, in the first 24 minutes of play.
The Elite tried to get back into the game in the second half but the momentum carried over into the third quarter for the Aces, breaking the game wide open to further widen the margin to 85-58.
Alaska’s dominance continued in the final period as they built an advantage as high as 32 points, on a jumper from Rome dela Rosa at the 2:09 mark, to secure its first win of the conference.
The Aces shot 50-percent for the game and forced the Elite to 21 turnovers, which translated to 26 points.
The win was Alaska’s biggest since beating Meralco by 41 points on October 31 of last year, in the Philippine Cup.
Marcus Douthit tallied a double-double of 28 points and 16 rebounds for Blackwater (1-0), while Bambam Gamalinda was the lone local player in double figures with 10 markers.
The scores:
ALASKA 106 – Travis 18, Casio 13, Banchero 13, Baguio 12, Abueva 9, Jazul 7, Manuel 6, Dela Rosa 6, Exciminiano 6, Menk 6, Thoss 4, Baclao 2, Hontiveros 2, Eman 2, Dela Cruz 0.
BLACKWATER 80 – Douthit 28, Gamalinda 10, Salvacion 9, Cervantes 7, Bulawan 5, Timberlake 4, Reyes 4, Erram 4, Heruela 4, Acuna 3, Faundo 2, Celiz 0, Laure 0.
