Cafe France Bakers. PBA IMAGES
CafeFrance made easy pickings of BDO-NU for a 110-86 second win in the 2016 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup Thursday at Ynares Sports Arena.
Paul Zamar showed the way for the Bakers with 22 points on a 4-of-7 clip from threes.
Without Alfred Aroga, who is out due to academic reasons, BDO-NU had no answer for CafeFrance big man Rod Ebondo, who wreaked havoc inside and finished with 19 markers, six rebounds, and three blocks.
Carl Bryan Cruz also had a double-double of 15 points and 10 boards, while JK Casiño got 12 markers and five assists to pull CafeFrance to a share of the top spot with Caida Tiles and UP QRS/JAM Liner.
Despite the wire-to-wire victory, coach Egay Macaraya still feels that this wasn’t the real test he was looking for for his team.
“They have a very good team pero wala si Aroga and that’s their biggest problem,” he said. “This is not yet the test on how good CafeFrance is this conference.”
However, Macaraya was happy to note the uptick in his team’s shooting, going 14-of-35 this time from rainbow country after a woeful three-point showing in the Bakers’ 89-65 win over Mindanao last Monday.
“The concern was we were 2-for-21 from threes against Mindanao. Everyone was shooting threes in practice and ito yung nangyari,” he said.
Matt Salem paced the winless BDO-NU with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while J-Jay Alejandro had 15.
The Scores:
CAFEFRANCE 110 – Zamar 22, Ebondo 19, Cruz 15, Casino 12, Jeruta 11, De Leon 7, Manlangot 6, Villahermosa 6, Arim 5, Guinitaran 3, Abundo 2, Opiso 2, Celso 0.
BDO-NU 86 – Salem 17, Alejandro 15, Javelona 9, Labing-isa 9, Tansingco 8, Perez 7, Salim 7, Diputado 6, Rono 6, Yu 2.
Quarters: 21-21, 48-33, 82-54, 110-86.