JRU survives Cagayan Valley’s fightback

THE JOSE RIZAL University Heavy Bombers nearly lost a humongous 24-point lead but had enough toughness to hack out a 103-100 lead over the Cagayan Valley Rising Suns in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup at the Emilio Aguinaldo College gym.

In the other game of the twinbill, the Big Chill leaned on the game-long brilliance of Terrence Romeo and former University of San Jose-Recoletos guard Mar Villahermosa to down the Erase XFoliant, 88-68.

Romeo and his backup guard combined for 31 points in the second period as Big Chill outscored Erase Xfoliant, 33-15, to overhaul a 15-18 first quarter deficit and took the lead for good.

Romeo eventually finished with a game-high 21 points and while Villahermosa had 19 for the Superchargers, who bounced back from two-game slump and assumed solo second place with 5-2 (win-loss) record.

Philip Paniamogan tallied a career-high 26 points, including a trey that sent the game into overtime while John Villarias made a tough three-pointer of his own in the extra session to pull off the whard-earned win.

The victory was only the second in six games for the Heavy Bombers but it kept them in contention for a quarterfinal berth while closing the year on a winning note.

JRU led by as many as 24 points in the points in the second quarter and by 17 in the third but couldn’t put away the Rising Suns, who charge back behind the inspired performance of backcourt duo Ping Eximiniano and former Southwestern University ace guard Eliud Poligrates./Correspondent Jonas Panerio