Shakers rally after shutting down Gems in the fourth

Gab Banal of the Gems protects the ball from Shakers’ Roger Pogoy and Nard Pinto. PBA D-LEAGUE IMAGES / Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines – Fruitas came back from 22 points down to stun Cebuana Lhuillier 75-72 Tuesday in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Carlo Lastimosa scored 13 of his 22 points in the second half, including nine in the fourth quarter where the Shakers shut the Gems down.

“As a coach, giving up can’t start with you,” said Fruitas head coach Nash Racela. “What’s important is you just have to keep pushing them.”

“Credit goes to the players they didn’t give up. There were times that we were consistently down by 17 and 15 then it will go down to 11 before it goes back to 17 and 18 but our players showed their character and heart.”

Fruitas stared at a 22-point deficit after Paul Zamar uncorked a triple 62-40 at the 4:31 mark of the third quarter before the Shakers got into the flow of things with Lastimosa anchoring the charge.

Lastimosa made eight quick points highlighted by a hang time move resulting in a three-point play that cut Cebuana Lhuillier’s lead down to four 64-68 with 6:37 left.

Fruitas finally took the lead on a left corner three by Anjo Caram plus the foul 73-71 exactly at the two-minute warning as the Gems, who were held to just five points on one-of-15 shooting from the field in the final frame, never recovered.

Cebuana’s lone field goal came from Gab Banal, who put his team up 70-64 with 6:12 remaining. But it turned out to be the Gems’ last basket.

Russel Escoto gave Fruitas, which won its second straight game in as many outings, a lift upfront with 13 points, nine rebounds, a couple of assists, a steal and one block.

Escoto had six points, five rebounds and an assist in six minutes of play in the fourth period alone including a putback off a Caram miss that gave his team a three-point cushion 75-72 with 52.8 ticks left.

Down by three, the Gems turned to Raymond Aguilar to provide the points on the low block but failed to convert. June Dizon tried to follow up Aguilar’s miss but his attempt was too strong.

James Martinez misfired on a heavily contested three-pointer as time expired. The Gems dropped to 1-1.