Big Chill nips Cebuana Gems, advances to D-League Finals

THE Big Chill Superchargers advanced to the finals of the PBA D-League Foundation Cup after nipping the Cebuana Lhuillier Gems, 83-80, yesterday in the deciding Game 3 of the semifinals at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

The Superchargers lost a 15-point third period lead and were even down by nine in the fourth but mustered enough defensive mojo at endgame to forge a finals duel with undefeated reigning champions, NLEX Road Warriors.

The best-of-three finals starts on Monday.

Jesse Collado calmly hit a three-pointer that shattered a, 78-all deadlock with less than two minutes left and Big Chill also survived three-point attempts by Lester Alvarez and James Mangahas in the dying seconds as the Gems lost in the semifinals for the second conference in a row.

Alex Mallari led the Superchargers with 20 points, five rebounds and seven dimes while Jam Cortes added 15 even as Raffy Reyes, Keith Jensen and Jewel Ponferrada chipped in 15, 13 and 11 points, respectively.

The Gems were ahead, 69-60, but were overwhelmed by an 11-2 run by Big Chill anchored on Mallari who had two three-pointers in that stretch that tied the score at 71-all. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio