Ateneo crushes St. Clare to emerge solo second
Credit to Author: JEREMIAH M. SEVILLA| Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2019 16:32:41 +0000
Riding on a strong second half, Cignal-Ateneo De Manila University thrashed St. Clare College-Virtual Reality, 88-66, to emerge solo second in their group in the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Developmental League (PBA D-League) on Tuesday at the JCSGO Gym in Quezon City.
Ivorian center Angelo Kouame powered the Blue Eagles’ rally in the closing quarters as they crawled out of an 18 points deficit en route to taking the No. 2 spot in the Aspirants Group with an improved 5-1 record.
“It (halftime talk) was direct to the point. We weren’t doing what we said we’ll do before the game. We didn’t make any adjustments and we just went back to basics,” said Cignal-Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin.
Six-foot-11 Kouame finish huge with 24 points and 29 rebounds — just one board shy of the league record. He poured 20 big points in the second half to ignite the Eagles’ comeback.
Isaac Go racked up 11 points while Thirdy Ravena and Adrien Wong chipped in 10 markers apiece in the team’s third straight win.
Cignal-Ateneo saw itself trailing behind 28-46 early in the third quarter as Joshua Fontanilla sparked a 28-7 run for St. Clare-Virtual Reality.
Kouame triggered the Eagles’ quick turnaround in the same frame, taking a 65-55 lead heading into the payoff period.
Cignal-Ateneo did not relent from then on.
Darwin Lunor had a a double-double of 12 points and 16 rebounds even as Paul Santos also had 12 markers for the Saints, who fell to No. 3 with their first defeat against four wins.
Earlier, Allyn Bulanadi caught fire as Valencia City Bukidnon-San Sebastian College bounced back big at the expense of Wangs Basketball, 96-64.
Bulanadi posted a game-high 28 points on an 11-of-21 shooting clip to help the Golden Harvest rebound from a 65-71 loss to Centro Escolar University.
Valencia-San Sebastian joined Metropac-San Beda University at No. 2 in the Foundation Group with a similar 4-1 slate.
“The boys executed our game plan and we played good defense,” said coach Egay Macaraya as the Golden Harvest limited the Couriers to a paltry 35 percent shooting from the field.
Kenneth Villapando tallied 15 points while RK Ilagan and Ian Calma added 13 and 10 markers, respectively, in the win.
Ronan Santos had 15 points and eight boards even as Radge Tongco had 12 markers and Axel Iñigo had 10 for Wangs, who slid to 3-2.
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