Gems overcome Superchargers for solo second

MANILA, Philippines - James Martinez came off the bench to fire 13 points as Cebuana Lhuillier thwarted Big Chill, 65-60, and seize solo second in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup at the Meralco gym in Pasig City yesterday.

Martinez’s big offensive game led a strong performance by Cebuana’s reserves as the Gems second unit outscored the Superchargers’ bench, 43-32, as Cebuana bounced back from a 67-70 loss to Cagayan Valley last Monday to post their third win in four starts. 

“The boys are very motivated to win after our disappointing loss on Monday. But there’s still a lot of concerns that had to be addressed,” said Cebuana assistant coach Bay Cristobal.

In the second game, Cagayan Valley notched its second straight win after back-to-back setbacks, beating winless Derulo Accelero, 76-74.

The Rising Suns tried to break away from a tightly-fought contest with a 14-6 run at the onset of the fourth quarter with Kenneth Ighalo hitting two triples to help give Cagayan a 69-60 lead.

But the Oilers refused to give up but ran out of time and reeled to their fourth straight loss.

Cebuana trailed, 53-54, with 6:31 left in the game but outscored Big Chill, 11-1, inside 75 seconds and took a 63-55 lead on Martinez’s three-point shot. The Gems never trailed from there.

Big Chill dominated Cebuana off the boards, 57-47, but shot poorly with a woeful 29 percent field goal shooting and struggled for just three triples out of 22 attempts.

Rodney Brondial scored 17 points and Adrian Celada added 13 markers for Big Chill, which slid to 2-2.