Mar Villahermosa (light / big chill). PBA IMAGES FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Big Chill leaned on a strong start before holding off Jumbo Plastic, 50-46, in the 2014 PBA D-League Foundation Cup Tuesday at the JCSGO Gym in Cubao.
Both teams struggled at the offensive end before Mar Villahermosa came through in the fourth quarter for the Superchargers.
Villahermosa scored 13 of his team’s 15 points in the final frame also matching the Giants’ output in the quarter.
“I challenged the players to step up in this game because this is a must-win for us. We need a victory to stay in contention for a playoff berth,” Big Chill coach Robert Sison. “I’m really glad they responded well to my call.”
Big Chill leveled its record to 4-4 good for fifth place while also keeping Jumbo Plastic from getting an inside track of nailing the last outright semifinals slot.
Unbeaten NLEX, which improved to 8-0 following a 76-68 win over Cebuana Lhuillier earlier, already clinched an automatic semis berth.
Janus Lozada scored all of his 12 points in the first half to help Big Chill build a 25-9 buffer.
The Giants came out of their halftime huddle with renewed confidence and limited the Superchargers to just eight points in the third quarter to make it a closely-contested game.
Jason Ballesteros notched 15 points and 20 rebounds but his impressive numbers were still not enough as Jumbo Plastic dropped into second-place tie with the Gems at 5-3.
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