Depleted Hapee tops Racal Motors; Suns rise over Titans

MANILA, Philippines -  Hapee bucked a depleted roster and dominated Racal Motors, 70-60, while Cagayan Valley withstood AMA University’s gritty stand, 89-78, as they kept their unbeaten run in the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup at the JCSGO Gym in Cubao, Quezon City yesterday.

The Fresh Fighters rode on a big second quarter run to seize control, 44-33, then played just good enough with nine men to whip the Alibaba and notch their ninth win in a row.

Earlier, Abel Galliguez came off the bench to fire 20 points, including 11 in the last quarter, as the Rising Suns subdued the Titans to formalize their claim of the second outright semis berth with an 8-0 mark.

The Rising Suns, who played without suspended coach Alvin Pua for the second straight game, led by as many as 11 points in the second and third quarters but needed a late explosion from Galliguez to keep their streak going. 

AMA, coached by Mark Herrera,  trailed at 47-58, but outscored Cagayan Valley, 18-10, in a five-minute stretch bridging the third and fourth quarters. Marcy Arellano capped that spurt with a triple to pull the Titans within, 65-68, with still 8:05 left in the fourth.

But Galliguez took over. The streak-shooting guard knocked four consecutive baskets, including three treys, and the Rising Suns held the Titans to just one field goal in a two-minute stretch to regain control.

“I felt I had a rhythm so I took more shots when I got the ball and scored more. Our mindset was to be aggressive and that’s what I did,” said Galliguez, who also had two assists and two steals in 25 minutes.

Moala Tautuaa tallied 10 points and nine rebounds for the Rising Suns, who were surprisingly beaten off the boards by the gutsy Titans, 40-53.

Backcourt duo James Martinez and Arellano each scored 18 points for AMA, which had lost three in a row and fell to 3-6 (win-loss) record.

Hapee played without their pair of 6-9 giants – Arnold Van Opstal and Ola Adeogun – but drew solid games from Troy Rosario and Bobby Ray Parks Jr.

Van Opstal and Adeogun celebrated the holidays with their families in Germany and Nigeria, respectively. 

Rosario finished with 20 points and had eight rebounds to show the way for the Fresh Fighters. Garvo Lanete contributed nine points and four assists while Parks, who didn’t score in double digits for the first time in the conference, added six and as many assists.

Kerwin Ortuoste tallied 20 points and Reneford Ruaya added 10 for Racal Motors, which lost three straight and fell to 2-7 (win-loss) record.