NLEX, Cebuana Lhuiller forge title duel

Photo by Nuki Sabio

MANILA—Cebuana Lhuiller Gems and NLEX Road Warriors will meet  in the finals of the PBA D-League Foundation cup after breezing past separate foes Thursday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

It was no surprise that the top team in its respective groups entered the finals as the Gems clobbered the PC Gilmore Wizards, 83-55, and the Road Warriors routed the Max! Bond Sumos, 74-61.

The Gems and the Road Warriors will face each other as the best-of-three Finals kick off on June 14, Tuesday.

A 16-1 run to connect the second and third quarters, opened the floodgates for the Road Warriors, as Erik Salamat’s triple with 7:10 in the third pushed the lead to 54-26.

Salamat had 11 points, while San Sebastian standouts Calvin Abueva and Roland Pascual finished with 19 and 14 points, respectively for the Road Warriors, who outshot and outrebounded the Sumos.

An alley-oop by Abueva off a pass by Pascual brought the lead back to 28 points, before the Sumos tried to run back in the last two minutes with nine unanswered points.

In the opener, Cebuana Lhuiller also dominated the Wizards from the onset, but broke away for good in the second half.

A third quarter onslaught spearheaded by Allein Maliksi, Pari Llagas and Kevin Alas cracked the game wide open for the Gems, and the sour-shooting Wizards never came close from there.

“We rotated well, and we did good on defense,” said Gems coach, Luigi Trillo.

A triple by Chris Canta, and a basket by Llagas gave the Gems a whopping 28 point buffer in the winding minutes of the game.

Llagas, a PBA draftee, finished with 19 points to pace Cebuana Lhuiller. Maliski had 14, James Sena 11, and Alas nine points.

An early run by PC Gilmore momentarily halted Cebuana Lhuiller’s rampage as the Wizards trimmed the deficit to within 24-26 late in the second quarter.

“They had open looks, but the shots weren’t going in,” said Trillo of Gilmore’s performance.

Jam Cortes and Eric Agas each scored 13 points for the Wizards, which was the sleeper in the inaugural conference of the PBA D-League, being the last to set up a team, but still were able to barge into  the semifinals.

“It was a good run for PC Gilmore. I’m proud of what my players accomplished,” said coach Richard Del Rosario.

Another sweet shooting squad, Max! Bond also couldn’t get anything going from its young guns with only Riel Cervantes, Jun Cabatu, and Lingganay carrying the load.

Cervantes turned in 19 points, Cabatu had 12 while Lingganay registered 10 for the Sumos, including back-to-back triples in their late-game run.

Jeric Fortuna, Jeric Teng and Clark Bautista–the main men of the UST Growling Tigers, who make up the  core of Max! Bond–combined for 12 points.
The scores:

First Game
C. LHUILLIER 83—Llagas 19, Maliksi 13, Sena 11, Alas 9, Elinon 7, Fernandez 6, Mepana 6, Canta 6, Mandani 2, Hayes 2, Lee 2, Bagatsing 0, Semira 0.
PC GILMORE 55—Agas 13, Cortes 13, Lastimosa 9, Vidal 8, Mangahas 5, Acosta 4, Parala 2, Dysam 1, Magbanua 0, Sarangay 0, Sorongon 0, Sinco 0, McCoy 0, Almazan 0.
Quarters: 17-14, 38-29, 65-48, 83-55
Second Game
NLEX 74—Abueva 19, Pascual 14, Salamat 11, Hodge 7, Co 7, Taganas 5, Menor 4, Ellis 4, Sanggalang 3, Belencion 0.
MAX! BOND 61—Cervantes 16, Cabatu 12, Lingganay 10, Bautista 6, Navarro 5, Teng 4, Hugnatan 4, Fortuna 2, Benites 2, Cuan 0, Camus 0, Afuang 0.
Quarters: 25-14, 43-25, 65-38, 74-61