MANILA, Philippines - A more prepared Jumbo Plastic squad stunned top seed Caida, 79-61, to move a win closer to winning the inaugural PCBL Founders Cup championship Friday night at the JCSGO Gym.
Driven by the statement made by Caida’s premier forward Ford Ruaya, who picked Jumbo Plastic as lighter opponent than Sta. Lucia, the Linoleum Giants played a statement game, playing with more energy as they led from start to finish in pulling off a surprising easy win at the start of their best-of-three finals series in this event supported by Aquabest, Accel, Spalding and Ambucore.
“In our team, we always preach discipline, madadala mo kasi yun sa practice at sa game,” said Jumbo Plastic coach Stevenson Tiu.
Mark Lopez led the winning team with 14 points and nine rebounds.
“Whatever happens, we have to stay humble,” said Lopez.
Caida Tiles took a week-long break after clinching the first finals berth following a two-game sweep of Euro-Med in the semis. In the finals, though, the Tile Masters appeared to be rusty and were a step slower than their rivals, who beat them in the rebounding department (44-36), assists (16-8), steals (6-2), and points off turnovers (16-4).
The Linoleum Giants took an early 20-9 lead off a three-pointer by ex-Powerade guard James Martinez then padded their advantage to as high as 24, 58-34, off a three-point play completed by another former PBA player Marcy Arellano in the 5:39 mark of the third period.