Jeric Teng (Dark / Informatics) vs Gio Ciriacruz and Louie Vigil (Light / Blackwater). Photo Nuki Sabio/PBA
MANILA, Philippines—Blackwater utilized all of its personnel and cruised past Informatics, 89-73, Tuesday in the 2013 PBA D-League Foundation Cup at the Arena in San Juan.
The Elite were in control all match but managed to zoom further away in the fourth quarter by cashing in on fastbreak attempts.
An 8-1 run — mostly scored in transition — to start off the payoff period pushed Blackwater’s lead to 77-55, the biggest of the game.
But what delighted Leo Isaac the most was he was able to field in all his players and all but two contributed at least two points.
“We wanted to share the minutes. Kung pwede nga equally eh, we want exposure from players na di masyadong nagagamit,” said head coach Leo Isaac.
Pari Llagas, Justin Chua scored 18 and 15 points respectively for Blackwater, which kept the number two spot.
But the Elite also drew significant digits from its second stringers like Louie Vigil, Robby Celiz who had 11 and 9 points, respectively, and Eric Suguitan, who pulled down 13 boards.
“Di naman kakayanin nung first stringer to play the whole game. We need the others to have that confidence that the starters have,” added Isaac.
The Elite failed to contain the Icons’ gunner Jeric Teng, who finished with a game-best 32 points, but it hardly mattered as they dominated the rebounds (64-33), assists (19-10) department.
Informatics, though, significantly had fewer turnovers (9-22) but couldn’t capitalize on that flaw of Blackwater as it remained winless after three ties.
After Teng, Mon Mabayo was the second best scorer with 11 points and guards Nate Matute and Rocky Acidre each had 10.