Big Chill triple cripples PC Gilmore

MANILA, Philippines - Jessie Collado nailed a tough triple from the corner with 38 seconds left to fuel a decisive 9-0 run and lift Big Chill past PC Gilmore, 96-83, for a quarterfinal seat in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup at the Meralco Gym yesterday.

Big Chill (6-3) won its second straight outing and dropped PC Gilmore to 0-5 for the season-opening tournament.

“We are still working on our chemistry, especially on the defensive end,” said Big Chill coach Arsenio Dysangco. “But at least we achieved our first goal of making it to the quarterfinals.”

Collado, a burly 6-3 forward from Lyceum-Subic Bay, finished with 22 points on 8 of 17 field goals, including 6-of-12 from beyond the arc. He also had three rebounds and two shot blocks.

Jopher Custodio led Big Chill for the second straight game with 24 points, 22 coming in the first half, and eight rebounds. Jewel Ponferada and Raffy Reyes also had 15 points each for the Superchargers.

John Agas scored 19 points and hauled down eight rebounds for the Wizards, which also drew 16 points from Mark Sarangay, 13 markers from Jet Vidal, and 12 points from AJ Mandani.

Custodio and Collado combined for all but 12 of their team’s 46 first half points, hitting 10 triples in 15 tries in the first 20 minutes.

Custodio, a 6-1 swingman, made his first three triples as the Superchargers took an early 16-4 lead. Jeff Vidal opened the second quarter with six straight points to trim the lead to two, 24-26 but Custodio buried another triple to hold off the Wizards.

Back to back threes by Agas trimmed Big Chill’s lead to six, 71-65, a minute and a half into the fourth period but Mallari had a pair of field goals and Jewel Ponferada added a three-point play to push the Superchrgers further ahead, 78-65 with 6:28 left in the contest.

Agas hit two triples in a 13-2 run which trimmed the Superchargers lead to four, 81-85 with 1:37 to go. Ponferada made an easy lay-up after a timeout by coach Dysangco and after splits from the line by Mark Cagoco and Paolo Tah, PC Gilmore had a golden opportunity to make the game closer when Cagoco stole off Keith Jensen but blew a wide-open lay-up with 50 seconds left, setting up Collado’s big shot.