Revellers stop Scratchers, share lead

Games tomorrow

1 p.m. – Go for Gold vs Batangas-EAC

3 p.m. – CEU vs Che’Lu Bar and Grill

MANILA, Philippines — Chris Bitoon and Jeff Viernes took over in the clutch as Che’Lu Bar and Grill upended erstwhile unbeaten Go for Gold, 97-95, to force a tie for the lead in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig yesterday.

Bitoon drilled in a huge triple with 15.5 seconds left to shove Che’Lu Bar to a 96-95 lead then Viernes came through with a split to seal the win, their fourth straight after an opening game setback, for the Revellers.

The Scratchers bungled two crucial treys in that stretch, including a potential game winner by Paul Desiderio with 1.3 seconds left as the team took its first loss after a sweep of its first four matches in the first round.

“It’s pure effort by the players. They don’t want to lose the game,” said Che’Lu Bar coach Stevenson Tiu.

Bitoon went 7-of-9 from the beyond-the-arc and exploded with 31 points on top of four assists and a steal while Jessie Collado, Viernes and Jayson Melano backed him up with 20, 17 and 10 points, respectively.

Desiderio and Banal spearheaded the Scratchers’ charge with 14 points apiece while four others also turned in double figures.

Go for Gold broke away from a back-and-forth battle in the third quarter to post a 80-70, early in the fourth. But Bitoon, Melano and Collado rallied Che’Lu Bar and Grill to grab the lead at 93-89 with 1:38 to go in the contest.

The Scratchers regained the lead, 95-93, on a three-point play by Jerwin Gaco with 56.4 seconds remaining but crumbled in the end in the face of the Revellers’ big finish.

Marinerong Pilipino-TIP, meanwhile, checked a two-game skid as it cruised past winless AMA Online Education, 105-80, to start its second round campaign.

Marinero rebounded from its setbacks to Go for Gold and Centro Escolar University and led from start to finish to fashion out the 25-point romp over the hapless Titans.

Javi Gomez de Liaño fired 27 points on an 11-of-14 clip to help hike Marinerong Pilipino-TIP’s card to 3-3 at fourth.