THE JUMBO Plastic Linoleum Giants hiked their record up to 2-0 (win-loss) while the defending champions Blackwater Sports debuted in victorious fashion in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup yesterday at the JCSGO gym in Cubao.
The Giants held off the Café France Bakers behind the clutch shots of Cebuano forward Jan Colina, 74-70, while the Elite crawled back to beat the Boracay Rum Waves, 87-85.
Jumbo Plastic led by as much as 18 but relaxed in the endgame, allowing the Bakers to come within two with a little over a minute remaining.
Fortunately for the Giants, former pro Jason Ballesteros and Colina, formerly of the University of Cebu Baby Webmasters, made shots down the stretch to hack out the win.
Colina finished with 14 pts, four assts, two rebounds and a block while Elliot Tan added the same number of points. Cebuano guard, Eliud Poligrates, led the Bakers with 19 points.
In the second game, PBA draftee Justin Chiu showed his readiness for the pros as he led a comeback by the Elite and capped it off with a three-pointer that put them up, 84-80, with 48.3 ticks left in the game. Still, the Waves had a shot at tying the game but Mark Belo made only two of his three freethrows that pegged the count at 85-86, leading to a split from the line by the Elite’s Robby Celiz that sealed the deal.
In the last game, Big Chill Superchargers upended the BDO-National University, 92-91, thanks to a last-gasp steal and layup by Khasim Mirza with 1.7 seconds left. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio