2 Aces hurting

By Rey Joble
People's Journal
September 12, 2007



Alaska’s ambitious back-to-back title quest won’t be easy.

“It would be tough as teams have improved and that two of our key players are injured,” Alaska coach Tim Cone said. “But we will go out there fighting and we’ve become bigger this season.”

“We’re excited how well we can be with this big line up.”

The injured players Cone is referring are Mike Cortez and Jeff Cariaso, two of his best guard combination, who hurt their knees.

Cortez hurt his previous MCL injury, almost the same as Cariaso.

Both players acquired their injuries during the Fiesta Conference finals they won over the Talk N Text Phone Pals.

But Alaska team manager Joaqui Trillo said the injuries are not that serious.

“It’s the old injuries they sustained,” said Trillo during his team’s exhibition game against the visiting Korea squad. “They will be out for several weeks and will miss our games in the pre-season.”

“But they will play in the coming conference.”

Trillo also revealed that JR Quiñahan, one of the players the Aces picked in the draft, was signed up yesterday to a two-year deal.

Terms of the contract weren’t disclosed.

Ken Bono, the other half of Alaska’s newest version of Bruise Brothers, is also expected to sign today. “We have Ken (Bono), Jun-Jun (Cabatu) and JR (Quiñahan), three big guys who are expected to become valuable additions for us,” said Cone. “But this isn’t a guarantee we will be back there on top. We need to work harder.”

Cone pointed to San Miguel, Ginebra and Talk N Text as the teams to beat this conference.