MANILA, Philippines—Metropac-San Beda averted disaster and fended off SMDC-National University, 94-86, in the 2019 PBA D-League Thursday at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Donald Tankoua led the Movers with 23 points, 10 in the fourth quarter where they came back from an 80-72 deficit with 7:24 left to play in the game.
The Movers went on a frenzied 20-2 run in the fourth to get to an 82-72 lead with 1:57 remaining that the Bulldogs ultimately failed to counteract.
Calvin Oftana had 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help Metropac-San Beda’s offense while Clint Doliguez filled up the box scores with 16 points, five assists, three rebounds, and three steals.
“It’s really our defense that stepped up in the last seven minutes,” said Movers head coach Boyet Fernandez. “I kept on challenging them that we won’t win this game against NU if we won’t play defense.”
“We got back to our basic, and we put the pressure on the defensive end.”
The Movers improved to a 5-1 record in the Foundation Group while the Bulldogs dropped to a futile 0-5 card.
Dave Ildefonso led SMDC-NU’s offense with 30 points while big man Issa Gaye did most of the dirty work with nine points, 26 rebounds, and fie blocks.