YOU know for certain that JV Casio had a tough day at the office when you see him walking gingerly out of the Alaska dugout on Thursday night.
That the Alaska rising star looked like he was ready to hit the sack was understandable, having spent almost the whole game leading from the front for the Aces while trying to chase down Talk 'N Text guards Jason Castro and Jimmy Alapag.
Casio didn't do too badly for the Aces, scoring 13 points to go with five rebounds and six assists in 38 minutes for the Aces. But he had to take the backseat to the Talk 'N Text pair who combined for 53 big points, with Alapag hitting 20 and Castro a career-high 33 points.
“May magagaling na guards kasi. Napatakbo saka nakakapagod bantayan sila Jimmy talaga,” he said as he made the long walk from the Aces' dugout at the Mall of Asia Arena to his car.
To make matters worse, the TnT pair were at their best in the second half as Castro hit 20 points during that stretch while Alapag hit four three-pointers.
On the other hand, Casio suffered from cramps during the early stages of the overtime period and, although he battled on, missed the potential game-tying layup in the end, allowing Talk 'N Text to escape with a 114-111 victory.
The loss dropped Alaska to 1-3 (win-loss), just slightly better than the 0-3 cards held by San Mig and Air21. That of course is unacceptable for a team coming off a banner season.
Still, Casio said Alaska is still a work in progress at this point and believes only one thing can get the Aces over the hump, hopefully beginning in the game against Air21 on Wednesday.
Hard work.
“I think parang we’re still getting there, may mga kulang pa rin kami in some other games,” said Casio. “We’ve been competing, pero kinakapos lang talaga sa huli.
“But still, we need a little more hard work for us and we’ll be able to step it to another level.”
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