Perkins lifts Hawkeyes

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Cignal-San Beda College are newcomers in the PBA D-League finals, but there’s no shortage of big game players among the Hawkeyes.

Most Valuable Player contender Jason Perkins dished out his finest outing in the Aspirants’ Cup, exploding for 28 points to propel the Hawkeyes to a 93-85 trouncing of the Racal Tile Masters in Game 1 of the best-of-three finals Thursday at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

The lefty power forward, who won two UAAP titles with La Salle, shot 10-of-17 from the field and also grabbed eight rebounds as the Hawkeyes moved on the cusp of the title in only their first conference in the D-League.

A veteran of so many wars during his time at San Sebastian in the NCAA, Pamboy Raymundo kept the Hawkeyes together with his playmaking down the stretch on top of 21 points, while Robert Bolick, no stranger to pressure situations while playing for San Beda, had a solid game with 19 points and six assists.

Cignal’s strong performance in the series opener was hardly a surprise for Perkins.

“It has to do with our chemistry,” said Perkins, who shot 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. “Our chemistry is really great. Everyone is close to each other so we just jelled pretty quick. And we had a good game plan going in so we were pretty prepared.”

Cignal can wrap up the title and gift coach Boyet Fernandez his seventh D-League title with another victory on Monday when Perkins expects Racal to play with a heightened sense of urgency.

“We have to come prepared for Game 2 and execute even better because they almost got us in the endgame,” he added.