Jhaps Bautista. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
Batangas came out hot off the gates and clobbered AMA Online Education, 95-76, to move up to solo second place in the 2017 PBA D-League Foundation Cup Thursday at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Jhaps Bautista and Joseph Sedurifa teamed up to give their side the early edge and the Batangeños never looked back, giving coach Eric Gonzales’ squad their third win in four games.
Bautista dropped 12 of his 22 points in the first half, alongside six rebounds, while Sedurifa got 16 markers, eight boards, and two steals off the bench in Batangas’ bounce back win after suffering a 72-70 heartbreaker against CEU last week.
“I think our current run is due to our good investment from last conference. We had an intact core and the team is slowly absorbing the things that I want to see from a team,” said Gonzales in Filipino.
Cedrick Ablaza chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds in the conquest.
The Batangueños jumped to an early 22-10 lead before extending the lead to as high as 21, 55-34, after a Jessie Saitanan jumper with 6:13 remaining in the third quarter.
Despite the victory, the two-time D-League champion coach noted that there’s still lot a they need to improve on if they want to progress into the quarterfinals.
“We have so much to correct. I told them that it’s my dream to make it to the quarters, so we have to correct those if we want to do that,” said Gonzales.
Ivan Villanueva topped the Titans with 14 points and three rebounds, while Renzo Subido got 13 markers and four assists in the defeat.
Andre Paras also nabbed a double-double for AMA (0-4) with his 10 points and 22 boards in the losing effort.
The Scores:
BATANGAS 95 – Bautista 22, Sedurifa 16, Ablaza 11, Anderson 10, De Joya 8, Napoles 7, Ragasa 6, Mag-isa 5, Saitanan 4, Mendoza 3, Laude 3, Dela Peña 0.
AMA ONLINE EDUCATION 76 – Villanueva 14, Subido 13, Alas 12, Paras 10, Bonleon 9, Flores 5, Salonga 4, Pontejos 4, Macaranas 3, Celso 2, Jordan 0, Bragais 0, Malones 0, Carpio 0.
Quarters: 22-14, 44-26, 73-57, 95-76.