D-League: Bakers face Gems Thursday

A week after posting a dominating win, Café France looks to come out with another strong game versus Cebuana Lhuillier today to forge a tie for third place in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

“It proves that we are starting to jell,” said coach Egay Macaraya after the Bakers surprisingly routed the favored Erase Xfoliant, 73-58, last Thursday. “But the most important thing is they’re starting to believe in themselves, that they could win if they play hard and support each other.”

The Bakers and the Gems clash at 4 p.m., right after Jose Rizal University-Air21 and Informatics gun for their first triumph at 2 p.m.

Roger Pogoy posted a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds to pace the Bakers, who are bidding to tie idle Blackwater Sports at 3-1.

“I thought Erase treated us lightly and somehow that gave the players some confidence,” said Macaraya. “Hopefully, we could keep this going.”

And the Bakers wouldn’t mind playing underdogs again versus the Gems, who boast a veteran lineup led by June Dizon, Paul Zamar and JR Buensuceso.

“We always want to be the underdog because that’s a very good motivation,” said Macaraya. “But our ability to push ourselves to improve will make the difference.”

The Gems are coming off back-to-back losses against Fruitas (90-91) and Big Chill (61-81) that pushed them down to 1-2.

“We just have to take things positively and learn from our mistakes,” said Gems coach Beaujing Acot.

Informatics, meanwhile, hopes to pick up its first win after coming close to upsetting three-time champion NLEX last Tuesday.