PBA D-League: NLEX, Cafe France dump separate foes

MANILA, Philippines — A pair of routs marked the 2012 PBA D-League Thursday as Cafe France and NLEX dumped separate foes at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

The Road Warriors hiked their unbeaten records to seven games with an 84-53 clobbering of still winless Cagayan in the night cap.

Behind the efforts of four Road Warriors in double digits, last year’s champion stretched the gap to as big as 69-30, at the end of third.

A two-handed alley oop slam from Chris Ellis with 15 ticks left capped the domination of NLEX, which marked its territory early from the get go leading to a 51-19 advantage at the half.

Cliff Hodge had 16 points and nine rebounds while Emman Monfort, Chris Ellis and Ford Arao added 15, 11 and 10 points, respectively.

In the first game, Cafe France dominated the skidding Jr Powerade, 81-66, to stay in the hunt for a quarterfinals spot.

The Bakers, leading by more than 20 points in several occasions, staved off a late game run by the Tigers by dominating the paint behind Marion Magat.

Seven points by Magat, who finished with 20 markers and 14 rebounds, in the last five minutes neutralized the attack of Jr Powerade and extended the lead back to 18 points.

“We needed to bounce back. After this win, the team’s morale is up again,” said the Bakers’ head coach Edgar Macaraya.

The Tigers remain in the contention with a 2-5 card but another loss would end their chances of making it to the next round while the Rising Suns still in search of their first win in seven games.