MANILA - Wangs-Letran escaped a late push from Adalem-St. Clare to score a 94-87 win at the start of the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup on Thursday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. In the battle pitting the top teams of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Athletic Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities (NAASCU), the NCAA champions prevailed despite the NAASCU rulers nearly pulling off a comeback from 23 points down. The Knights quickly stomped their dominance on the Saints, opening a 43-20 lead with 7:59 left in the first half. However, Adalem-St. Clare slowly chipped away the lead and was just within three, 85-88, with 59 seconds left in the game. King Caralipio finally sealed Wangs-Letran's win with a dagger triple with 47 seconds remaining. Louie Sangalang made 21 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks for the Knights, while Caralipio, Tommy Olivario, and Brent Paraiso each added 12 markers. John Rojas made 25 poin
MANILA - Barangay Ginebra returned from a 19-point deficit to stun the NLEX Road Warriors, 83-75, in their PBA Philippine Cup meeting on Wednesday night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. Ginebra took over in the final 18 minutes of the game to steal the victory from NLEX, which was earlier thought to be on its way to a blowout win. Behind a solid first half, NLEX opened a 55-36 advantage with 7:11 left in the third period, but Ginebra finished the quarter on a 19-5 run before outscoring its opponent, 25-12, in the final canto to complete the comeback. Japeth Aguilar led the Gin Kings, who bounced back from their loss to the Magnolia Hotshots and moved to second place in the team standings at 3-1, just behind the unbeaten San Miguel Beermen, with 20 points, seven rebounds, one assist, three blocks, and a steal. Arvin Tolentino caught fire late and added 17 points, three rebounds, one assist, and one steal. Kevin Alas chipped in 16 points, four assists, and one steal, while Calvin
MANILA - Don Trollano scored the winning basket as the NLEX Road Warriors took down sister team TNT Tropang Giga, 90-89, in their PBA Philippine Cup game on Thursday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City. Trollano converted a pull-up jumper with 2.2 seconds left that eventually helped NLEX complete a late comeback against TNT, which once led 86-80 with 4:20 left before NLEX launched an 8-1 run to take an 88-87 advantage. Trollano actually forced an exchange of baskets as Troy Rosario scored on a putback with eight seconds that put the Tropang Giga back up, 89-88, before Trollano won it for the Road Warriors. Jayson Castro, who scored the winning basket in TNT's Sunday night win against Converge, tried to go clutch again, but he missed a three-pointer at the final buzzer, letting NLEX escape. Oftana led the Road Warriors, who overtook the Tropang Giga with a 2-1 record, with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting, four rebounds, three rebounds, three steals, and one block. JR Quinahan
MANILA - NorthPort joins San Miguel in first place early into the PBA Philippine Cup after taking down Terrafirma, 100-86, on Saturday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo. The Batang Pier slowly chipped away the Dyip's lead in the second quarter before pulling away in the second half. Robert Bolick led the now 2-0 NorthPort squad with 26 points, eight rebounds, and 10 assists, while Jamie Malonzo added 19 points, 16 rebounds, one assist, two steals, and one block. Joshua Munzon and Juami Tiongson each fired 24 points for Terrafirma, which not just fell to 0-2 but also lost three players, Isaac Go, Eric Camson, and Ed Daquioag, to injuries. In the nightcap, Meralco began its PBA 47th Season campaign with a huge 109-98 come-from-behind win against Phoenix. Down by as much as 16, the Bolts crawled back and even pulled away from the Fuel Masters in the end as the veteran presence of Reynel Hugnatan proved to be crucial. Phoenix was on the verge of a blowout win after racing to a 77-
NLEX versus San Miguel Beer (PBA Images) MANILA - San Miguel took solo lead in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup after stopping NLEX, 100-92, on Friday at Ynares Center in Antipolo. The Beermen contained the Road Warriors after letting them explode in the first period, where the latter raced to a 33-25 lead. SMB slowly crippled NLEX in the next 36 minutes, outscoring them the rest of the way, 75-59, to eventually prevail. SMB coach Leo Austria admitted that his team underestimated the opponents so he reminded his players to turn to defense for the remainder of the match. "The last time I watched them against Terrafirma, I thought we can beat them because they scored 31 points in the first half, but earlier, they scored 53 points in the first half. That's why I told the team that we have to step up on our defense," Austria said after the game. CJ Perez led the 2-0 Beermen with 19 points, six rebounds, five assists, and three steals, while Marcio La