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Eliud Poligrates (R) of Cagayan Valley slices through the defense of Blackwater Sports. Jeff Venancio
After going winless in their maiden conference of the PBA Developmental League, the Cagayan Valley Rising Suns continued their remarkable turnaround by making it to the D-League Aspirants Cup Finals with an 80-68 victory over Blackwater Sports, Tuesday at the FilOil Flying V Arena.
[Related: Forrester carries Cagayan Valley past Blackwater Sports in game one of their semis series] The Rising Suns had taken game one of their best-of-three semis series, 91-76, but stumbled in the second outing, falling 86-79.
[Related: Blackwater lives to fight again as win over Cagayan Valley leads to game three] This time, Cagayan Valley banked on a big fourth quarter to break the game wide open and cruise to a victory. After dictating the tempo in the first quarter, the Rising Suns relinquished the lead in the second quarter. They again made a run to start the third but Blackwater made a counter-run to keep the game close heading into the final period. As things unfolded however, a dunk by big man Raymond Almazan gave the Rising Suns a 80-66 lead with just a minute left to clinch their trip to the Finals. "Sobrang masaya. First time kong makapasok sa Finals lalo na sa ganitong liga," said Cagayan Valley head coach Alvin Pua. "Pag sa practice, iniisa-isa ko yung players kung ano yung kulang sa laro nila." The guards of Cagayan Valley helped them get an early advantage in the first quarter. Ping Exciminiano poured in seven points early on, to help the Rising Suns erect a 9-2 lead, but Kevin Ferrer of Blackwater Sports was able to trim their deficit to four after a three point play at the 7:17 mark. Switching gears, the Rising Suns took advantage of their hot-shooting from beyond the arc. Adrian Celada made a three the followed it up with two free throws for an 18-9 count. Joshua Webb also joined in the three-ball party to extend the lead to 10 at 21-11. A late basket from Pari Llagas however chopped the Cagayan Valley lead down to 6 at 21-15 to end the first quarter. Pua played 10 players in the first quarter alone and all of them helped to get the early lead for their team. "Galing sila sa teams na hindi sila masyadong ginagamit," Pua said. "Yun yung mga gusto kong players, yung mga may gustong patunayan, yung mga may puso." Blackwater Sports made an effort early in the second quarter thanks largely to the efforts of Robby Celiz who scored five points in the first two minutes. After Exciminiano dominated the first quarter, his backcourt partner Eliud Poligrates made sure that Cagayan Valley kept the lead even with their top scorer sitting on the bench. Poligrates made a pretty hang-time scoop lay-up, a three-point shot, and kept the ball alive ,which led to a Mark Bringas basket for a 34-25 lead. However, Blackwater Sports refused so allow Cagayan Valley to break the game wide open. A lay-up from Allan Mangahas and an and-1 play from Ferrer at the 3:23 mark of the second sliced the Cagayan cushion down to 3 at 34-31. The second overall seed then made sure that the Rising Suns paid for being in the penalty situation towards the end of the first half. Four straight free throws from Blackwater gave them their first taste of the lead at 35-34, which prompted Cagayan head coach Pua to reinsert Poligrates into the game. But the Rising Suns came up empty after a timeout, which led to a Ferrer three on the other end. An off-balanced bail-out jumper from Hyram Bagatsing went in just before the buzzer sounded for a 40-35 lead in favor of Blackwater Sports. Ferrer exploded for nine markers in the second period to lead Blackwater Sports to a 25-14 quarter advantage. Poligrates had to ride the bench even if he scored 7 points in the second quarter as he was called for three fouls in the first half. "Nag kanya-kanya sila kaya nalamangan kami ng lima," Pua said. "Nagtitira sila at yung gameplan namin sa depensa di nila sinunod."
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Joshua Webb (R) tries to score against Pari Llagas. KC Cruz
Out of the intermission however, Cagayan Valley did not waste any time in trimming Blackwater's lead. A lay-up by Celada at the 7:23 mark got them within a point at 40-39 but Justin Chua scored down low to bring their hike their lead back up to three. In response, four straight points from Edrian Laro and Bringas put Cagayan Valley back on top, 43-42. Blackwater tied the game with a free throw but Jason Melano scored on a lay-up off a Karim Abdul turnover for a 45-43 count in favor of Cagayan Valley. A three from Poligrates, a free throw from Bringas and another fast break lay-up from Melano then stretched their lead to eight at 51-43. Twin flagrant fouls were called on Paolo Pe and Celada, which further raised the stakes in the do-or-die semis ball game. Because of the calls, both teams were given two free throws each. Chua missed both for Blackwater, while Poligrates converted both, good for another double digit lead at 53-43. After Lao extended the Cagayan Valley lead to 12, Ferrer attempted to bring life to a lethargic Blackwater team with a two-handed dunk and a lay-up to bring down the lead to 8 with a minute left in the third. Mangahas joined the party with a timely triple, then Ferrer added another basket to trim the Cagayan Valley lead to just three, 57-54 heading into the payoff period. Cagayan Valley opened the quarter with a 8-2 run capped by a Webb lay-up at the 7:10 mark for a 65-56 advantage. Bringas then added to the lead with a surprising crossover move and a lay-up though he took out a cameraman when he landed. Webb went in for a coast-to-coast lay-up which was followed by baskets from Bringas and Mark Cruz to extend the Cagayan Valley lead to 15 at 76-61 with less than three minutes remaining in the game. Blackwater Sports again missed the scoring from point guard Jeric Fortuna who only managed two points in the game. UST big man Karim Abdul also scored only just points in seven minutes of action. They could have kept the game close but they converted only 15 of their 36 free throw attempts, with the usually reliable Chua going 2-for-8 from the stripe. With the victory, the Rising Suns now wait for the winner between the NLEX Road Warriors and the JRU Heavy Bombers. "Ang taas ng morale ng mga players ngayon kaya bakit ako kakabahan?"Pua said. "Nasa kanila naman yun e. Yung players yung magde-decide niyan." Game 1 of the PBA D-League Finals will start on Thursday at the Blue Eagle Gym.
- AMD, GMA News The scores: Cagayan Valley 80: Poligrates 17, Webb 11, Bringas 11, Celada 10, Lao 9, Almazan 8, Exciminiano 7, Melano 5, Cruz 2, Pasculado 0, Forrester 0, Montemayor 0 Blackwater Sports 68: Ferrer 18, Celiz 12, Llagas 11, Mangahas 10, Chua 8, Bagatsing 2, Abdul 2, Vigil 2, Fortuna 2, Ciriacruz G. 1, Pe 0, Ciriacruz I. 0
Quarter scores: 21-15, 35-40, 57-54, 80-68