PBA D-League: Bakers rise, slay Dragons

CAFE France continued to make life tough for Malaysian squad Blustar Detergent as the Bakers hacked out a 98-83 rout to grab a share of the lead in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup Tuesday at JCSGO Gym.

“It’s their first feel of basketball here in the Philippines,” Cafe France coach Egay Macaraya said of the Dragons, who also got clobbered by Tanduay, 94-71, a day earlier.

“They have agile bigs and that’s where we had a hard time. But our advantage is our level of basketball—it’s already higher than them.”

Carl Bryan Cruz topscored with 19 and Mar Villahermosa also sizzled with 17 points, 12 coming from three-point range, to lead the unbeaten Bakers to their third straight triumph.

Earlier, Racal also unleashed a second-quarter tear on the way to a 102-83 drubbing of Topstar Z.C. Mindanao.

The Tile Masters’ guard came out firing with Jonathan Grey dropping 20 points, Philip Paniamogan shooting 6-of-8 to finish with 16 and Joseph Terso knocking in nine of his 13 points from beyond the arc.

Cafe France joined idle Phoenix on top, while Racal climbed to a share of third with Tanduay Rhum at 2-1.

“We still had a poor start in today’s game, but the difference is we were able to recover and had more energy in the second quarter,” said coach Caloy Garcia after the Tile Masters rebounded from their first loss against the Bakers.

Grey sparked a second-quarter tear as the Tile Masters outscored the Aguilas, 29-13, to turn a 22-25 deficit into a 51-38 spread at the break.

Both the Dragons (0-2) and the Aguilas (0-3) remained winless.

The scores:
First Game
RACAL 102—Grey 20, Paniamogan 16, Terso 13, Maiquez 11, Javier 10, Robles 9, Ortuoste 8, Celiz 4, Corpuz 4, Neypes 3, Banal 2, Gabawan 1, Ruaya 1, McCarthy 0.
TOPSTAR Z.C. MINDANAO 83—Cawaling 22, Argamino 15, Cabrera 12, Garcia 11, Julkipli 8, Acosta 5, Jumao-as 5, Dadjilul 2, Roño 2, Ignacio 1, Ongteco 0, Rivera 0, Sarangay 0, Tano 0.
Quarters: 22-25, 51-38, 74-55, 102-83
Second Game
CAFE FRANCE 98—Cruz 19, Villahermosa 17, Zamar 15, De Leon 12, Ebondo 11, Parala 11, Jeruta 7, Arim 4, Opiso 2, Abundo 0, Casiño 0, Manlangit 0.
BLUSTAR 83—Kuek 19, Ma 15, Choo 14, Liaw 14, Ting 8, Yeo 5, Wong 4, Ong 2, Palma 2, Kamarrudin 0, Mak 0, Teo 0, Tong 0.
Quarters: 25-16, 52-37, 76-55, 98-83