THE BLACKWATER Sports turned to its veterans to come away with a 69-64 win over Fruitas in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup yesterday at the San Juan gym.
Gio Ciriacruz made a crucial three-pointer in crunchtime that allowed the Elite to secure the win. Ciriacruz’s only basket of the quarter broke a 60-60 count and sparked a closing 9-4 run for the Elite, who won their second straight and improved to 2-1 (win-loss) record.
Kevin Ferrer scored 18 points to show the way for the Elite while Jeric Fortuna chipped in 10.
On the defensive end, Paulo Pe, Justine Chua and Karim Abdul did an excellent job slowing down Fruitas’ 6-8 center Ola Adeogun.
Adeogun, who turned in a conference-high 30 points and 18 rebounds in his debut against Cebuana Lhuillier last Nov 8, wasn’t as dominant against the Elite, who tired the Nigerian mammoth by consistently banging him inside. Adeogun finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in 22 minutes.
Carlo Lastimosa scored 17 markers for Fruitas./Correspondent Jonas Panerio