Cagayan’S LA Revilla (light) and Cebuana’s Bambam Gamalinda and Rex Leynes (behind).
MANILA, Philippines – Cagayan Valley finally managed to keep its lead to beat Cebuana Lhuillier 70-67 in the 2014 PBA D-League Foundation Cup Monday at the JCSGO Gym in Cubao.
Ed Daquioag was nearly perfect from long range – going five-of-six in that area en route to a game-high 18 points for the Rising Suns, who registered their first win in three games.
“The players really wanted to win badly,” said Cagayan assistant coach Ogie Gumatay.
Daquioag, the University of Santo Tomas guard, drilled in two timely triples in the final 2:22 of the game.
He gave the Suns a 65-59 lead with his fourth 3-pointer of the game before unloading a dagger from almost the same spot at the right side of the court for a 68-64 cushion with only 1:02 remaining.
“He (Daquioag) played his role. He was told to shoot when open and that’s what he did,” said Gumatay.
Bambam Gamalinda sank a trey that cut the lead to one, 68-67, with 8.4 seconds left.
Cagayan guard LA Revilla missed a free throw before opting to intentionally miss his second freebie with 3.8 ticks remaining and with Cebuana having no timeouts left. It worked to the Suns favor with the Gems failing to secure the defensive rebound.
Cagayan blew big leads in its first two games but its outside shooting wouldn’t let another game slip away.
The Suns kept it close entering the fourth period despite missing their first nine shots in the third quarter.
James Martinez paced the Gems, who dropped their first game after winning two in a row, with 14 points.
Ill-tempered Cagayan head coach Alvin Pua was called for a technical foul for using profane language at the 9:38 mark of the fourth quarter.
Neither team led by more than six points.
Daquioag hardly missed from beyond-the-arc but interestingly, he couldn’t make a basket in the two-point area – missing all of his seven attempts.
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