Cebuana 5, Cafe France reach semis

MANILA, Philippines - Cebuana Lhuillier and Café France pulled through in a pair of sudden deaths over their respective rivals to join seeded Cagayan Valley and Hapee in the Final Four of the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup at the Arena in San Juan yesterday.

Paul Zamar made the big plays in the closing seconds as the Gems repeated over the fourth-seeded Jumbo Plastic Giants, 85-81, to seal a semis duel with the top seeded Cagayan Valley Rising Suns.

But third seed Café France avoided the upset axe in the other quarterfinal, rallying in the third quarter to fashion out an 81-68 victory over newcomer Bread Story-Lyceum.

Aaron Jeruta scored a game-high 22 points in only his second start for the Bakers, who outscored the Pirates, 31-14, in the pivotal third period en route to victory and a semis clash with No. 2 Hapee Fresh Fighters.

The Pirates took a 42-37 lead at the half but lost their grip due to poor shooting in the second half, enabling the Bakers to mount a comeback.  

The best-of-three semis series start on Thursday with Bakers facing the Fresh Fighters at 2 p.m. and Gems battling the Rising Suns at 4 o’clock.

Zamar scored all is eight points in the fourth quarter and his free throw with 82 seconds remaining broke a 79-all count. He capped his late game heroics with an assist to Norberto Torres for an open jumper then sank two more foul shots extend the lead to 84-79 with 24 seconds left.

“I thought the players responded well to the challenge. They kept their discipline and never gave up when Jumbo threatened to steal the game,” said Cebuana Lhuillier coach Boycie Zamar.

Norberto Torres tallied 17 points, Allan Mangahas added 15 markers, Simon Enciso and Almond Vosotros had 12 points apiece and Kevin Ferrer chipped in 10 markers for the Gems, who became just the second fifth seed to advance in the Final Four

Philip Paniamogan came away with 15 points for the Giants, who were eliminated for the second time in this conference with a twice-to-beat advantage. Jumbo Plastic also lost to Blackwater last season.