By Jerome Lagunzad
Game Today
(Ynares Sports Arena)
4 p.m. – Che’Lu Bar and Grill vs Zark’s Burgers
(Game 3, winner-take-all match)
Zark’s Burgers and Che’Lu Bar and Grill go at it anew for the final time today at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City, with the winner earning the right to hoist the coveted 2018 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup crown.
Momentum will be on the side of the Jawbreakers who will come in to the winner-take-all showdown set at 4 p.m.
brimming with ample confidence after scoring a 98-90 triumph in Game 2 last Thursday behind their rejuvenated defensive stance.
A repeat victory by Zark’s Burgers, built around the core of NCAA force Lyceum, will complete its quick turnaround from a mediocre team that won only once in 10 matches last season to becoming the latest member of the league’s winning circle.
With a big opportunity to also make history by becoming the lowest ranked team – at sixth spot – to go all the way to the top, Jawbreakers coach Topex Robinson is tempering his expectations, knowing it accompanies greater pressure.
“Again, it’s about us inspiring others,” he said. We’re not gonna get away from that. That’s been our mantra since we started this campaign. We will honor and play the game the right way. We value the integrity of this game and we will honor this by doing the right things.”
Zark’s Burgers team manager Bernard Yang readily agreed.
“We will do what is best for the team and I believe the boys are fully motivated to achieve what they missed the last time in the NCAA,” said Yang who is eyeing his fourth championship since the glory days of Hapee Toothpaste in the defunct Philippine Basketball League.
The Revellers, composed of several San Sebastian vital cogs and veteran amateur stalwarts, should be eager to do the same since they will try anew to close out the Jawbreakers after they took the series opener – 107-103 – last week.
A lion’s share of that daunting task should fall on the shoulders of former pro Samboy De Leon, who struggled with just five points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field the last time, a big letdown from his 17-point production in Game 1.
