Quarterfinals hopeful Cebuana dumps Informatics behind Dizon’s 27 points

MANILA, Philippies—Cebuana Lhuillier dumped also-ran Informatics, 112-94, Thursday and pumped hope into its flickering quarterfinals bid in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup at the Trinity University Gym in Quezon City.

The Gems leaned on their hot three-point shooting anew while getting a huge lift from bruiser June Dizon to forge a tie with Fruitas, Boracay Rum, JRU and Cafe France at 4-5.

Coach Beaujing Acot, whose squad has struggled with consistency all conference-long, hopes that he has a healthy line-up against a virtual knockout game against the Bombers.

The top two squads after the end of eliminations clinch outright semifinals berths while the next four squads battle it out for the remaining slots.

“Hopefully mabuo naman sana ako, yung team ko, hindi pa ako nabubuo eh,” Acot, who dedicated the game to his mother-in-law who recently passed away, told reporters.

“Feeling the game against JRU would be the knockout game for us. Whoever wins that game probably has the highest intensity.”

And the Gems didn’t lack intensity on Thursday with Dizon pouring all but seven of his 27 points in the first half where the Gems took off for good.

Cebuana Lhuillier led 32-11 after the first quarter then posted a whopping 25-point advantage twice in the third quarter.

Paul Sanga and Paul Zamar each had 14 points as all of the Gems who were fielded in the game chipped in at least three points.

The Icons had five players scoring in double digits but just did not see their outside shooting click and was sorely outrebounded, 26-45.

Informatics tried to rally by scoring nine straight points to bring the lead down to 12, 87-99, but couldn’t complete the comeback.

Gerald Bautista had 16, Cedric Ablaza and Kojak Meligrito added 15 apiece for Informatics, which ended their conference with a 1-9 card.