Cignal trips C France; Tanduay raps Wangs

MANILA, Philippines - Cignal-San Beda and Tanduay came away with a pair of lopsided victories to bounce back into early contention in the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig yesterday.

Byron Villarias fired 21 points, including three treys, Jason Perkins buried two triples and scored 14 markers and grabbed eight rebounds while Robert Bolick added 10 points, five boards and four assists as the Hawkeyes stunned the fancied Café France Bakers, 88-74.

The Hawkeyes survived a third quarter meltdown but recovered their touch from the long range, draining nine of their 13 triples to regain control and frustrate the Bakers.

“They stepped up their practice in the last four days and it showed in this game. So hopefully we’ll be consistent at that,” said Cignal-San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez.

Cignal raced to an early 26-8 lead on back-to-back treys by Pamboy Raymundo and Harold Alboreda but the Bakers, behind Rod Ebondo’s seven straight points, closed to within, 39-44.

Earlier, the Rhum Masters dominated the Wangs Basketball side from start to finish to fashion out a 94-81 victory and force a four-way tie at fourth at 1-1 with their victims, the Hawkeyes and the Bakers.

Working on their balanced scoring halfway in the third period, the Rhum Masters took a 17-point cushion, 77-60, with 45 seconds left in the quarter and padded their lead to 86-64 on a Mark Cruz jumper with 7:17 left in the contest.

But Wangs toughened up on defense and held Tanduay scoreless in three minutes with Mark Brana starring in a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 13, 86-73, with 3:06 remaining.

But Cruz fired two three-pointers in the Rhum Masters’ final attack to seal the win.

Cruz erupted for 27 points while Bong Quinto, Raffy Reyes and Dave Moralde finished with 14, 13 and 11 points, respectively, for Tanduay.