Cignal, Cafe France repel rivals

Cignal-San Beda and Cafe France bucked shaky starts to hurdle their rivals Thursday and stay joint second in the 2017 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

The Hawkeyes thwarted the Tanduay Rhum Masters, 85-71, while the Bakers subdued Victoria Sports-MLQU, 95-84, to extend their win streaks and climbed to 5-1, tailing unscathed Racal (5-0).

Trailing by 13 points early on, Cignal grabbed the lead at the end of the third quarter, 54-48, padded it to 83-66, and cruised to its fifth straight triumph.

Cafe France treaded the same route as it rebounded from a 44-32 halftime deficit to seize control at 70-61 and extend its win run to four.

“Again, it’s credit to the boys,” said Cignal coach Boyet Fernandez. “We started bad but it was our second group, the San Beda boys, who really stepped up.”

Red Lion Robert Bolick scattered 23 points, three rebounds and three assists for Cignal, which also drew 13 points from Pamboy Raymundo.

Javee Mocon, another Red Lion, chipped in 10 points, five boards and two assists.

“We really wanted to win this to help us in our positioning at the end of the eliminations,” Fernandez added.

Bong Quinto anchored Tanduay (3-3) with 20 points, seven assists, and three rebounds.

Earlier, Paul Desiderio and Rod Ebondo sparked a 17-4 tear that pushed Cafe France ahead, 49-48 midway through the third quarter.

The Bakers never let up and led by as high as 13, 93-80, with three minutes left.

“The boys wanted to win so much that they played erratic so in the second half, we focused on playing defense,” said Cafe France coach Egay Macaraya. —RANDOLPH B. LEONGSON, INQUIRER.NET