Wilson Baltazar of Zark’s Burger-Lyceum battles Michael Parala of Mila’s Lechon for possession.—AUGUST DELA
CRUZ
Zark’s Burger-Lyceum shook off its early struggles and clobbered Mila’s Lechon by a whopping 47 points, 102-55, on Thursday in the 2018 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup at Pasig Sports Center.
“I was mad at the players at the start because we’re playing their (Mila’s) brand of basketball,” said Lyceum coach Topex Robinson. “That’s why I called two early timeouts to make sure that we’re in the right frame of mind.”
The early call-out worked as the Jawbreakers restored order in the third quarter and fired 23 unanswered points on the way to an easy victory.
Marinerong Pilipino also coasted to its first back-to-back wins with a 96-84 rout of Wangs Basketball-Letran in the second game.
Behind Renzo Subido and Abu Tratter, the Skippers finished the first half on a 7-0 spurt and sustained that run in the third period with Billy Robles leading the charge to push the lead to as big as 23 several times.
Rian Ayonayon topscored for Marinerong Pilipino with 14 points and six assists.
From a slim 44-41 lead, Zark’s-Lyceum zoomed to a 67-41 advantage with 3:24 left in the third quarter, made easy by the Mighty Roasters’ pathetic showing in the second half.
The listless outing that saw the Roasters absorb a fourth straight loss prompted the commissioner’s office to summon their team officials, led by coach Jesse Ricardo, on Friday.
“We don’t have control on how our opponents play,” said Robinson. “We always tell the players that no matter who we’re playing, we have to play at our best every time. If the opportunity is there to score, we’ll keep on scoring,” he said.
Mike Nzeusseu led Zark’s-Lyceum with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Jaycee Marcelino and Kim Cinco both poured 12 points in the beatdown.
CJ Perez was held to a conference-low nine points, but also collected five boards, two assists, and a steal as he allowed the Jawbreakers’ substitutes to shine, resulting in Zark’s 55 bench points.