By CHRISTIAN JACINTO
Games Monday (The Arena, San Juan)
10 a.m. – Derulo Accelero vs Cebuana Lhuillier
12 p.m. – Jumbo Plastic vs Blackwater Sports
2 p.m. – Cagayan Valley vs Big Chill
Mac Montilla buried a huge triple with only 18 ticks left as CaféFrance pulled off an 84-81 overtime win over Hog’s Breath Café while NLEX leaned on the heroics of Kevin Alas to beat Boracay Rum in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup yesterday at the Trinity University of Asia Gym in Quezon City.
In a game that saw the lead change hands 11 times, the Bakers made the Razorbacks pay for their complacence as Montilla – left wide open from the right wing – knocked down a three off a pass by Jam Cortez.
Hog’s had two chances to send the game into its second overtime but Paul Sanga and JP Belencion missed their 3-point attempts one after the other.
Montilla finished with 18 points while Rod Ebondo led the way with 22 points and 14 rebounds for the Bakers who are out to their best start so far.
The Road Warriors, on the other hand, eked out a 103-94 victory over the Waves to tie the Bakers for the early lead.
The Road Warriors squandered a 16-point half time lead but had just enough ammunition to repel the Waves’ fightback.
Alas had another stellar performance as he led another balanced attack of the Road Warriors with 19 points and 10 assists.
With Alas and Art dela Cruz at the helm, the Road Warriors surged a 54-38 lead at halftime and looked like they would cruise to another comfortable victory like in their win over Blackwater last Tuesday.
But plans for an early celebration were spoiled as the Waves rallied mightily and even took a 65-62 lead – thanks to the red-hot shooting of former Adamson star Roider Cabrera.
Aside from Alas, five other NLEX players scored in double digits with Garvo Lanete chipping in 17. Ronald Pascual and Matt Ganuelas finished with 14 apiece, dela Cruz scored all of his 13 points in the first half while Ola Adeogun had a quiet 11 points.