PBA-DL: Big Chill secures second place, Air21-JRU wins in OT

Air21-JRU finally notched their second victory but needed overtime to achieve it, while the Big Chill Superchargers snapped a two-game slide, Tuesday in separate PBA Developmental League games at the Emilio Aguinaldo College gym. 

 

In the first game, Air21-JRU saw their 18-point fourth quarter lead evaporate, only to rally in overtime, 103-100, against the Cagayan Valley Rising Sun. 

JRU was up 81-63 early at the start of the fourth, but Eliud Poligrates nailed two huge triples as part of a 17-4 run by Cagayan, to get within five, 85-80, with 4:55 left. 

 

Philip Paniamogan countered with his own triple to boost their lead back up to 88-80, but the Rising Suns were undeterred, continuing their attack. With JRU getting just a single point off a technical free throw, the Cagayan offense led to them taking the lead on a basket by Adrian Celada, 90-89, with 1:36 left. 

 

Charities by Poligrates pushed Cagayan's late lead to three, 94-91, but Paniamogan hit another big triple to knot things at 94-all, and the Rising Suns were unable to get anything with seconds left in regulation. 

 

In overtime, six straight JRU points had the Heavy Bombers up 102-96 with 1:29 remaining, only to see it halved on a James Forrester three-point play. A split at the line by Poligrates made it a two-point game, 102-100, but Dexter Maiquez put the game away with his charity, as once again, Cagayan was unable to get anything off late. 

 

Chris Exciminiano led all scorers with 29 points, hitting 50 percent from the field, and adding five rebounds, six assists and three steals. His weakness though was a spotting outing from the foul line, just 9-of-17, which proved fatal in such a close game. 

 

Eliud Poligrates added 24 points, while Mark Bringas flexed his might down low with a 16-point, 19-rebound, three-block outing. 

 

Philip Paniamogan, making his D-League debut, had 26 points to lead Air21-JRu, while Dexter Maiquez added 14 points. 

 

In the second game, the Big Chill Superchargers held the Erase Xfoliant Erasers to just 15 points in each of the two middle quarters, building up to a one-sided 88-68 win. 

 

Big Chill were actually down 18-15, at the start of the second period, but their offense finally came to play, as they pumped in 33 markers to go up by 15, 48-33 at the break. 

 

Three charities by Supercharger Terrence Romeo made it a 57-37 lead in the middle of the third, and it Erase simply didn't have the firepower to eat into that deficit, as Big Chill managed to stay on top of things until the final buzzer. 

 

Terrence Romeo top-scored with 21 points on an efficient 7-of-11 clip, while Mar Villahermosa had 19 points in 19 minutes, canning 4-of-5 from outside the arc. 

 

Nate Matute led Erase Xfoliant with 19 points, while Femi Babayemi posted a double-double of 10 points and 16 rebounds, but it was not enough for the struggling Erasers. 

 

Big Chill now stands at second-place with a 5-2 card, a win higher than Blackwater Sports and the Cafe France Bakers at 4-2. Cagayan Valley is just below those squads at 4-3. Bringing up the rear of the standings are Air21-JRU at 2-4, and Erase Xfoliant at 2-5, with just the winless Informatics Icons between them and the cellar.  - AMD, GMA News