By Reuel Vidal

OPENING-GAME winner Alaska Aces gun for a commanding 2-0 advantage when they battle the Talk N Text Tropang Texters in Game 2 of their best-of-seven KFC-Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup championship at 7 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum today.

?When you win the first one, you come out and you try to win the second,? said Alaska coach Tim Cone. ?That is basically our goal right now. We will just try to win the second and don?t think anymore beyond that. We think we can. It is going to be tough because Talk N Text is going to come back and play a real solid game. They will go all out.?

The Aces received a lift from LA Tenorio, who scored a career-high 27 points to go with eight rebounds, six assists and one steal, to score a 102-95 victory.

Talk N Text coach Chot Reyes said that indeed, stopping Tenorio or at least limiting his contributions will be his biggest headache.

?Tenorio ate my guards for breakfast,? said Reyes. ?He ate them, chewed them up and then spat them out. We will have to find a way to limit him.?

The Alaska mentor agreed with Reyes? assessment that Tenorio was the key to Alaska?s victory.

?He [Tenorio] played a great game,? said Cone. ?He really controled our tempo. He knew when to attack and when to pull back. I hate to make comparisons, but he reminds me of a young Johnny Abarrientos, who had great instincts. LA [Tenorio] does the same thing. He just knew when to attack. When to slow down and when to keep us going.?

In a reversal of roles, offense fueled the Alaska Aces, who are the no. 1 defensive team in the league, to victory past the Tropang Texters, the best offensive team in the league.

After the Tropang Texters closed the gap to only one point, 90-89, the Aces made a 12-6 finishing kick to win pulling away.

?We were able to overcome a lot of things,? said Cone. ?They [Tropang Texters] pretty much played their game in the first quarter with 30 points. We knew we could not win a game like that. We really had to go back to our defensive fundamentals. We felt we really played our game in quarter no. 2 where we limited them to only 14 points.?

The Tropang Texters will receive a big boost from the return of Ranidel de Ocampo who missed Game 1 after serving out a one-game suspension.

As treat to fans, the league, in cooperation with Smart telecommunications, has launched the ?Libre Ka! Pag Smart Ka? promo. Users of Talk N Text, Smart or Red Mobile sim cards are entitled to one free Upper Box B ticket to the game. The offer is limited only to the first 1,500 participants.

Fabulous raffle prizes also await 150 ticket holders in every game of the series which is also supported by Alaska, Talk N Text, Dickies, Solar Sports and the Araneta Center.