The Alaska Aces will see action for the first time in a while, and in their return, they will face the Barangay Ginebra, who are looking to extend their win streak over their bitter rivals.

Catch this game live on September 17 at 6 pm, Manila time.

The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (4-5)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: LA Tenorio
  • SG: Scottie Thompson
  • SF: Stanley Pringle 
  • PF: Joe Devance
  • C: Christian Standhardinger

Never say die. The Barangay showed that the franchise’s battle cry is not lost on them when they clawed their way back from a big deficit to score a 94-87 win over the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters on Wednesday. Ginebra had to get back up from 19 points down, and the team was able to do that thanks to the backcourt duo of LA Tenorio and Stanley Pringle. Tenorio finished with 23 points and five assists, while Pringle went off for 31 points.  

There’s still lots of juice in Tenorio’s and Pringle’s tanks, and they will have to continue digging deep because the frontcourt took a big hit with Japeth Aguilar expected to miss up to two weeks due to a knee injury. Without Aguilar, Ginebra will be asking heavier minutes from Joe Devance and Prince Caperal, while Christian Standhardinger will get a higher usage down low. 

C-Stand has shown his readiness to step up by banging in 21 points to go with 12 rebounds in the win over Phoenix. Ginebra is going to miss a lot of things Aguilar can bring to the table, but the team’s three-headed backcourt monster of Tenorio, Pringle, and Scottie Thompson plus Standhardinger in the middle can still be too much to handle for Alaska, which is 0-3 in the last three meetings with Ginebra.

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The Alaska Aces (2-4)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Mike DiGregorio
  • SG: Maverick Ahanmisi
  • SF: Jeron Teng
  • PF: Rodney Brondial
  • C: Abu Tratter

First of all, Alaska will come into this showdown with the Barangay with a decidedly fresher set of legs. The Aces have not played since their September 2 84-74 loss to the NLEX Road Warriors. Alaska has yet to win since the restart of the conference. Before losing to the Road Warriors, they fell prey to the Meralco Bolts, 89-80. 

While that’s not a good look for them heading into this matchup against Ginebra, it’s not like the Barangay have been playing a much more consistent brand of basketball of late. They have also been up and down, and with Aguilar out of the picture temporarily, the Aces could be catching Ginebra at just the perfect time. 

Aguilar would have been a tremendous weapon for Ginebra to combat Alaska’s beefy frontcourt that consists of the likes of Rodney Brondial, Abu Tratter, Yousef Taha, and Kevin Ebona. Aguilar’s absence should weaken Ginebra’s interior defense that’s now looking very vulnerable against Alaska’s big men.

PREDICTION:

Spread: Ginebra’s win over Phoenix was gutsy. But take the Aces here to cover (+4.5).

Over/Under: Alaska’s big men will have a huge impact in this game with their rebounding and inside scoring. Take the Under  (177.5).

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