By Jerome Lagunzad
Games Tuesday
(Pasig City Sports Center)
12 p.m. – Zark’s Burgers vs Marinerong Pilipino
2 p.m. – Che’Lu Bar and Grill vs Akari-Adamson
Without its most potent offensive weapon down the stretch, Zark’s Burgers leaned on its solid defensive pressure to get the job done anew yesterday.
The Jawbreakers rallied mightily to eke out an 82-77 win over the Centro Escolar University Scorpions in their do-or-die showdown and advance to the 2018 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup semifinals at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig City.
Down by as many as 14 points in the final period, the sixth-seeded Zark’s Burgers refused to crumble under intense pressure after losing star guard CJ Perez due to foul woes behind its full court pressure that ignited its strong finish kick.
Reliable wingman MJ Ayaay conspired with the celebrated Marcelino twins – Jaycee and Jayvee – in their late offensive charge while Cameroon center Mike Nzeusseu anchored their defense with a pair of big blocks over Scorpions counterpart Rod Ebondo, enabling the Jawbreakers to overhaul a twice-to-win handicap in the quarterfinals.
More importantly, the Bernard Yang-managed Zark’s Burgers earned a strong follow-up to a 104-95 victory in the series opener last Tuesday and arranged a blockbuster best-of-three semifinal showdown with No. 2 Marinerong Pilipino starting on Tuesday.
“I reminded them to just enjoy the game. I told them to keep on grinding and keep on playing. Wala namang mamatay sa amin kung matatalo kami. They just really wanted to win,” said Zark’s Burgers coach Topex Robinson.
Jayvee Marcelino finished with a team-high 17 points, Ayaay added 15 points and the 6-foot-6 Nzeusseu contributed 12 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks, doing their fair share in igniting their decisive 21-5 run in the last seven minutes.
The 6-foot-1 Perez, the reigning NCAA league MVP who finished with 26 points the last time out, only scored eight points on 2-of-10 shooting, hardly getting into any rhythm before incurring his sixth and final foul with 4:54 left to play, with Zark’s still trailing 68-74.
Instead of being rattled, the Jawbreakers buckled down on the defensive end while scoring 10 unanswered points, capped by a Jeric Serrano floater at the baseline for a 78-74 lead, time down to just 78 seconds.
A split by Ebondo, who finished with 22 points and 16 rebounds, ended the Scorpions’ four-minute scoring drought.
ZARK’S BURGERS-LYCEUM 82 – Jv. Marcelino 17, Ayaay 15, Nzeusseu 12, Jc. Marcelino 10, Perez 8, Tansingco 6, Caduyac 5, Serrano 4, Yong 3, Pretta 2, Cinco 0, Ibañez 0.
CEU 77 – Ebondo 22, Aquino 16, Wamar 11, Guinitaran 10, Cruz 6, Fuentes 4, Caballero 3, Manlangit 3, Arim 2, Chan 0, Galinato 0, Intic 0, Veron 0.
Quarterscores: 15-30, 37-45, 56-65, 82-77.
