MANILA, Philippines - Cagayan Valley held off a rallying Derulo Accelero and pounded out a 104-100 victory in a high-scoring match to stretch its win run to four in the PBA Aspirants’ Cup at the JCSGO gym in Cubao, Quezon City yesterday.
The Rising Suns leaned on big third quarter run to build a double-digit lead which they used as a cushion to fend off the last-ditch rally by the Oilers.
Ken Ighalo came off the bench to fire a team-high 21 points while Andrian Celeda had 19 points and John Pinto tallied 17 and nine assists for the Rising Suns, who dominated the boards, 50-42, and forced the Oilers to 21 turnovers.
Derulo Accelero, led by Jett Manuel’s game-high 26 points, fell to 0-4.
Earlier, Josan Nimes fired a career-high 33 points and Café France outplayed Boracay Rum in the fourth quarter to post an 84-80 victory while Arellano University pulled off a 77-73 upset over Zambales M-Builders to end a two-game skid.
Nimes made all but two of his 15 shots and keyed a 12-4 run in the last period, including a rare four-point play, as the Bakers evened their card at 2-2 while dealing the Waves their second defeat in three starts.
The Bakers, who bounced back from a 70-74 loss against Jumbo Plastic last week, played without veteran playmakers Eloy Poligrates and Ping Eximiniano but Nimes and the rest stepped up to deliver the goods for Café France.
“That was part of the adjustments that we made. I’m just happy it clicked,†said Café France coach Egay Macaraya.
Poligrates and Eximiniano were reported to have signed up with Talk N Text and Alaska, respectively, while Jens Knuttel, who arrived in the second half, is also set to suit up with Barangay Ginebra, according to Macaraya.