Jeric Canada of Jumbo (dark) vs Gilbert Bulawan and Allan Mangahas of Blackwater (light). NUKI SABIO/PBA
MANILA, Philippines—Blackwater came out firing for an 84-70 clobbering of Jumbo Plastic on Thursday, moving closer to the finals of the 2014 PBA D-League Foundation Cup.
The Elite opened with a 6-0 run against the Giants and never trailed, breaking the game wide open in the third quarter for a lead as wide as 25 points.
Game 2 is on Tuesday and Blackwater is brimming with confidence at it faces Jumbo Plastic, which defeated them in the elimination round, anew.
“With this win, I expect we will step up to the next level of confidence. We can improve more,” said head coach Leo Isaac.
“Despite this easy victory, expect us to still come out fighting on Tuesday like we’re the ones on the brink of elimination.”
Gilbert Bulawan led the Elite with 13 points and seven rebounds, Jericho Cruz had 12 points, six rebounds, and five dimes while Mark Cruz and Kevin Ferrer added 11 markers each.
But Isaac said that the real key to the victory was their defense on center Jason Ballesteros and the Giants’ shooters.
“Our defense won us the game. We played good defense and we were able to contain their shoots. We were prepared to guard the shaded area and we won’t let Ballesteros dominate.”
Jeff Viernes and Jerick Canada had 17 and 12 markers, respectively, but most of them came when the game was already decided. Ballesteros only had seven points while Jan Colina struggled with two.
It was a disappointing showing for the Giants, who finished in the top two at the end of the eliminations and got an outright semifinals berth.
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