Fortuna takes charge as Blackwater deflates Cagayan Valley for outright semis berth

Cagayan’s Mark Bringas attempts a shot as Blackwater’s Gio Criacruz looks on. Nuki Sabio/PBA

MANILA, Philippines — Blackwater sent Cagayan Valley crashing down with a 93-70 clobbering Thursday and clinched an outright semifinals berth in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup at the Trinity University Gym.

The Elite, who clinched their seventh victory of the conference, peeled away late in the third quarter as the game quickly turned into a full-blown rout.

Jeric Fortuna, who head coach Leo Isaac praised after the game, dumped eight straight points at the start of the fourth to make it a 69-46 for Blackwater, which was never threatened from there.

“Fortuna wanted to showcase his skills, magaling na bata (he’s good),” said Isaac.

“[In the] first two quarters, when we weren’t hitting our strides hindi rin sila makatira (they couldn’t hit). When our players started heating up, hindi na sila makasabay (they could not catch up),” added Isaac.

University of Santo Tomas starts Kevin Ferrer and Fortuna led the scoring for the Elite with 13 points apiece as Pari Llagas, Robby Celiz added 12 and Allan Mangahas 11.

Blackwater led by as big as 28 points midway the fourth period.

But the key to Elite’s snapping of Cagayan Valley’s two-game winning streak was stopping the Rising Suns top scorers.

Eliud Poligrates and Chris Exciminiano, who combined for 50 points in Cagayan’s win over Fruitas last Tuesday, was held to just 10 markers each.

The Rising Suns were still in the game with the Elite with 6:10 to go when Exciminiano scored to tie the game at 41-all.

But it went downhill from there for Cagayan Valley, which finished its elimination round with a 6-4 record and remained idle at third spot.

The twice-to-beat edge in the quarterfinals is still within reach for the Rising Suns, depending on what happens in the final week of the eliminations.