Ice Ciriacruz vs Rocky Acidre PBA D-LEAGUE IMAGE/Nuki Sabio
MANILA, Philippines—Jeric Fortuna led the way as Blackwater continued its winning ways after turning back Air21-JRU, 88-83, Monday in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup at the San Juan Arena.
Fortuna flourished down the stretch as he scored eight of his 10 points in the fourth quarter.
“May konting character na. Gusto ko manalo. Gusto ko mabuo yung winning habit, attitude, competitiveness and confidence,” said Blackwater head coach Leo Isaac.
“Going into the third we needed to dictate the tempo. Chua (played well) in the third and then Jeric Fortuna took over in the fourth quarter,” Isaac added.
Fortuna, who is also seeing action in the PCCL with the University of Santo Tomas, gave his team an 86-81 cushion on a putback off a miss three by Kevin Ferrer with 36.4 seconds remaining.
The Elite notched their third straight win to tie Cagayan in third place with a 3-1 record behind unbeaten squads Big Chill and NLEX.
“To keep in step with them kailangan yung mga lower teams hindi kami matalo.”
Gio Ciriacruz collected 15 points, six rebounds and four assists.
The Bombers, who were paced by Dexter Maiquez’ 15 points, dropped to 1-3.