Go for Gold halts Marinerong Pilipino

MANILA, Philippines — Unbeaten Go for Gold held off Marinerong Pilipino-TIP in the fourth period as it fashioned out a 93-88 victory to sustain its hot start in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig yesterday.

The Scratchers blew a 70-57 third quarter lead but made the most of their trips to the line midway in the fourth to regain control and finally put away the Engineers for their fourth straight victory in the six-team field.

“I’m not happy with the way we ended the game. We played well enough, we are up by double digits for most part, then we let up towards the end. We can’t let that happen,” said Go for Gold coach Charles Tiu.

Go for Gold was up by 13, 70-57, at the end of the third but Trevis Jackson and Robbie Manalang rallied Marinerong Pilipino to tie the count at 75 with 4:47 to go.

The Scratchers got back with a triple by Jai Reyes in a 15-5 windup where they also knocked down 10 free throws to surge ahead anew at 90-80.

Franky Johnson and Jackson made the last push for Marinerong Pilipino-TIP to close in at 88-91 with 34 seconds to go but two freebies by Reyes sealed it for Go for Gold.

Earlier, Che’Lu Bar and Grill hit its stride late in the third quarter to blast Batangas-Emilio Aguinaldo College, 78-57, to seize solo second with a 3-1 card.

Jay-R Taganas, Jeff Viernes and Stephen Siruma combined in a big 16-2 run in the last 2:51 of the third as the Revellers pulled away at 60-44 before cruising in the fourth quarter.