Giants end game on 8-0 run to beat Rising Suns

Jan Colina of Jumbo Plastic (light) FILE PHOTO/NUKI SABIO

MANILA, Philippines—Jumbo Plastic rode on an end-game run to beat Cagayan Valley 70-64 in the 2014 PBA D-League Foundation Cup Tuesday at the JCSGO Gym in Cubao.

Former Adamson slotman Jan Colina hit a go-ahead triple 65-64 to kickoff an 8-0 Giants run in the final 1:08.

“This is the kind of momentum we’re looking for before going up against NLEX,” said Jumbo Plastic coach Steven Tiu. “We just had more poise in the end.”

Denniece Villamor set up Jason Ballesteros for the uncontested inside basket to pad on to Jumbo Plastic’s lead 67-64 with 28.8 ticks left before Jeff Viernes made three free throws as the Giants racked up their fourth straight win.

The Rising Suns, who suffered their fourth loss in six games, took a 64-62 lead after a breakaway layup by Kenneth Ighalo before going scoreless in the last 2:19 of the game.

Jerick Cañada led Jumbo Plastic, which tied Cebuana Lhuillier in second place with a 4-1 record  behind unbeaten NLEX, with 14 points, most of which came in the third quarter.

Elliot Tan added 13 points, four assists and four rebounds while Colina ended up with nine points.

The game turned ugly when Cagayan forward Jason Melano threw a punch at an unsuspecting Colina right as the final buzzer sounded before running out of the court.

“It’s unfortunate that this thing happened,” said Tiu, who claimed he saw Melano hitting Colina’s face with a punch. “Both teams played well pumangit tuloy ang laro dahil doon (the game turned bad because of what happened).”

Jett Vidal had 16 points on 15 attempts from the field for the Suns, who led by as much as nine early.

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