Alaska faces Red Bull

The Alaska Aces gun for solo leadership when they battle the Red Bull Barakos in the lone match in the PBA Philippine Cup at 6 p.m. Thursday at the JCSGO Gym, 15th Avenue, Cubao, Quezon City.

Alaska (2-0) already tied at the top of the standings with the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings (2-0) could grab the solo lead with a victory over the Barakos. The Red Bull Barakos (0-2) could drop to the bottom of the standings in a tie with the Air21 Express (0-3) with a defeat.

Alaska mentor Tim Cone expressed confidence about the chances of his team against the skidding Barakos.

We will try to keep Red Bull in the half court to take maximize our advantage in size. We want to slow the game down and beat them with our superior size, said Cone.

The Aces had earlier beaten the San Miguel Beermen, 85-84, and the Coca-Cola Tigers, 69-62.

Sonny Thoss scored 11 points, grabbed eight rebounds and tallied four blocks to take Player of the Game honors in the victory against the Coca-Cola Tigers in Victorias City, Negros Occidental.

Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao freely admitted that his team faces a severe handicap against the Aces

Our only advantage is that we are the underdogs, said Guiao. That means less pressure on us. The biggest disadvantage is that Alaska is bigger and more talented than we are. They are complete in all positions because of their deep bench.

The Barakos are trying to arrest an unprecedented poor start. Red Bull is in a 0-2 start for the first time in eight conferences. The last time they started so poorly was in the 2004-05 Philippine Cup where they wound up at 10th and last place finish.

The last time the Aces started a conference with a 2-0 slate they eventually hung on to win the title. This happened in the 2007 Fiesta Conference where Willie Miller won his second MVP award.

The Aces are seeking to add to their collection of three All-Filipino titles and twelve PBA titles overall. The Aces however face a long drought. The last time they won an All-Filipino title was back 2000.