Quinton Heruela fell one rebound short of a triple double as Big Chill hammered out a 70-63 victory over a determined Arellano University yesterday to stay on track for an outright semifinal berth in the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup at the Blue Eagle Gym.
The 5-10 guard finished with 13 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in a stellar performance but the Superchargers needed a late burst to put away the upset-conscious Chiefs.
“We had a good run in the first quarter but we somehow lost our momentum when our second unit came in. Arellano capitalized on it, kept the game close and gained some confidence,” said Big Chill coach Robert Sison.
The Superchargers also got key contributions from Reil Cervantes (20 points), Janus Lozada (18) and Jeckster Apinan (10, 11 rebounds) to bounce back from a 97-88 loss to NLEX last week and improve to 7-1 behind league leader Hog’s Breath Café.
The Razorbacks shook off a sloppy first quarter and rolled to their seventh consecutive win following an 86-72 blowout against Derulo Accelero in the second game.
Philip Paniamogan scored 24 points, including 4 of 9 from the 3-point range while Kevin Racal added 20 for Hog’s Breath Café, which dominated the game from the start despite going 4 of 20 from the field in the first 10 minutes for their lowest production in a quarter this conference.
“We shot poorly in the first quarter because we had a last minute change in our starting five. But the good thing about the players is that they never lost their focus on defense,” said Hog’s Breath coach Caloy Garcia.
Scores:
BIG CHILL 70 – Cervantes 20, Lozada 18, Heruela 13, Apinan 10, Brondial 6, Maiquez 3, Baloria 0, Mirza 0, Canlas 0, Villahrmosa 0, Santos 0.
ARELLANO 63 – Webb 15, Serjue 10, Jalalon 7, Acidre 7, Fran 6, Bangga 6, Tayongtong 5, Palma 4, Arquero 3, Bartolo 0, Ciriacruz 0.
Quarters: 20-11; 29-27; 50-49; 70-63
Second Game
HOG’S BREATH CAFE 86 – Paniamogan 24, Racal 20, Sanga 10, Ruaya 9, Robles 7, Balerio 4, Terso 4, Gabawatan 3, Macasaet 3, Rios 2, Bartolo 0.
DERULO ACCELERO 72 – Soyud 24, Corpuz 18, Bautista 10, Dilay 6, Roncal 5, Jeffries 5, Importante 3, Manuel 1, Wierzba 0, Bonifacio 0, Wong 0, Gingerich 0.
Quarters:9-6; 34-22; 60-40; 86-72.