PBA-DL: Erase, Cagayan Valley, notch wins

The Erase Xfoliant Erasers and Cagayan Valley Rising Suns picked up separate wins, Monday at the Arellano University Gym, as both teams stayed in the upper half of the standings. In the first game, Erase (2-1) doubled up on the Informatics Icons (0-2) in the third quarter, 24-12, and then did enough to hold off their fourth quarter rally attempt to pick up the win. Up by just seven, 40-33 at the half, the trio of Macky Acosta, Jett Vidal, and George Allen accounted for all of Erase's points, making it 64-45. Charities by Gerald Bautista got the Icons' deficit down to 10, 66-56, with 5:41 left in the game, but Erase countered with a 10-3 run that put the lead safely out of reach with three and a half minutes remaining. Jett Vidal led all scorers with 19 points, while Nate Matute added 13 markers, seven rebounds and seven assists. The Informatics drew 18 from Moncrief Rogado and a double-double for 17 points and 12 rebounds from Carl Bryan Cruz, but they were hamstrung by poor shooting from field, making just 5-of-31 from downtown (16.1 percent) and 24-of-77 overall (31.2 percent).

That match was followed by Cagayan Valley's (3-1) 85-70 win over the Cafe France Bakers (1-1), as the latter was unable to build on having their first loss revoked, as part of the league's punishment on the Fruitas Shakers, for fielding an ineligible player. Things were also tight after this game's first half, with Cagayan up by a mere three points, 44-41, but the Rising Suns got triples from Mark Cruz and Adrian Celada, in support of center Raymond Almazan. The flurry of scoring resulted in a 15-4 blast that gave Cagayan a commanding 62-47 lead, barely halfway through the quarter. In the fourth, a big triple from Alvin Padilla made it just a 10-point game, 78-68, with 3:23 left, but back-to-back baskets by Celada and Chris Exciminiano provided enough of a buffer for the Rising Suns. Almazan was unstoppable down low for Cagayan, finishing with 15 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks in just 28 minutes of play. Exciminiano similarly stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks, while Edrian Lao and Jason Melano combined for 23 off the bench. Mike Parala led Cafe France with a game-high 19 points and nine rebounds, while Alvin Padilla fired in 12. Cagayan out-rebounded and out-assisted Cafe France, 56-50 and 17-11, respectively. - AMD, GMA News The scores - First game: Erase 79 – Vidal 19, Acosta 14, Matute 13, Gomez 10, Allen 8, Thompson 5, Mendoza 4, Alano 4, Arboleda 2, Babayemi 0, Vijandre 0, Stevens 0 Informatics 68 – Rogado 18, Cruz 17, Bautista 8, Hayes 8, Lituania 7, Mangahas 4, Benitez 4, Carlos 2, Sanghera 0, Maiquez 0 Quarter scoring: 21-22, 40-33, 64-45, 79-68 Second game: Cagayan Valley 85 – Almazan 15, Eximiniano 14, Lao 13, Melano 10, Celada 8, Poligrates 8, Cruz 7, Bringas 5, Webb 3, Bartolo 2, Gusi 0, Chiong 0, Forrester 0, Calubang 0 Café France 70 – Parala 19, Padilla 12, Mendoza 11, Knuttel 9, Pogoy 6, Jamon 3, Magat 3, Alas 2, Magbitang 2, Antipiuesto 2, Garcia 1, Belorio 0, Batino 0 Quarter scoring: 22-21, 44-41, 70-56, 85-70