Gab Banal waxed hot from the floor as Go for Gold scorched Che’Lu, 105-81, to level the PBA D-League Foundation Cup championship series at one game apiece Tuesday at Ynares Sports Center in Pasig.
Banal mocked every defense thrown at him, missing just one of his eight attempts from beyond the arc en route to 33 points that powered the Scratchers to victory.
“That’s really the strength of this team. I wanted a team that shoots threes a lot, like the Houston Rockets and today, we hit our shots,” said Scratchers head coach Charles Tiu.
The two teams go at it again in Game 3 on Thursday.
The Revellers, behind the hot shooting of Jeff Viernes, rallied to take Game 1 of the series, but could not muster any comeback this time around.
Go for Gold simply had too many weapons to back up the laser-like shooting of Banal.
Kris Porter chipped in 16 points and six rebounds, Ron Dennison contributed 12 points, three boards, and two assists, and Paul Desiderio delivered 10 for Go for Gold.
Tiu, though, put the spotlight on the team’s defense as Go for Gold held the high-octane Che’Lu side to just 10 points in the third frame, where his side broke away, 73-58.
“We’re able to run and make some easy baskets, and it turned to easy points for us,” said the soft-spoken mentor.
Jason Melano paced Che’Lu with 17 points and three rebounds, while Viernes was limited to just 13 points, seven assists, and four boards in the loss.
Viernes had 34 points, including 27 in the second half alone, as Che’Lu fought back from a 15-points deficit to draw first blood in the series.
But Che’Lu found it hard to mount a rally this time as Banal knocked shot after shot regardless of the defense showed by the Revellers in the match.
The dominant thumping puts a lot of pressure on Che’Lu, which will have to find a way to slow down the sweet-shooting Banal, who has been a nightmare for Che’Lu this series so far.
But Tiu refused to be overconfident and is expected to throw the same kind of attack to seize control of the series.