Cebuana Lhuillier advances to D-League Finals

THE CEBUANA Lhuillier are headed to the finals of the PBA D-League Foundation Cup after they routed the PC Gilmore Wizards, 83-55, in the semifinals yesterday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

The Gems got their game going early and pulled away in the third quarter as Kevin Alas and James Sena took over the scoring.

Narciso Llagas was the most consistent scorer among the Gems, going 9-of-10 from the field and finishing with a game-high 19 points that went with 10 rebounds.

The top seed of Group B also got outstanding efforts from Sena (11 points) and former University of the Visayas and M. Lhuillier standout Ariel Mepana, who did a good job in taking away the games of the Wizards’ big men.

The Gems enjoyed their biggest lead at 81-53 on Llagas’ basket with 2:50 remaining in the game.

The most significant threat encountered by the Gems came in the second quarter when the Wizards trailed, 24-26, with 3:59 left in the period. But Cebuana Lhuillier responded with 14-3 run to close the quarter and led 38-29 at the half.

Cebuana Lhuillier will face the winner of the other semifinal between NLEX and Max Bond Super Glue in a best-of-three series. Game 1 will start on Tuesday at The Arena in San Juan.

Jam Cortes and Eric Agas each scored 13 points for PC Gilmore. Correspondent Jonas Panerio