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Cignal zeroes in on semis berth with huge win over Batangas

PBA
By Dugout Philippines

PASIG--Showing its poise in the endgame, Cignal HD held off a game Batangas crew and came away with a 70-66 conquest to stretch its winning run to six Thursday in the 2017 PBA D-League Foundation Cup at Ynares Sports Arena.

Jason Perkins carried the load for the Hawkeyes, going for 15 points, five rebounds, and two assists, while Oping Sumalinog drilled the insurance bucket with 24.2 ticks remaining to wound up with 15 markers, three boards, and three dimes.

Hiking its record to 7-2, Cignal kept itself in contention for a top two spot which comes with an outright semifinals seat in the playoffs.

“We knew that we needed to win our next games if we want to get to that top two spot,” said coach Boyet Fernandez. “We had to bring somebody down, and credit to coach Eric Gonzales, Batangas really is a good team and they also deserve to win. But we’re just happy that we got this win and we still have a chance for that top two.”

Raymar Jose nearly tallied another double-double with his eight points and 12 rebounds, while Byron Villarias and Harold Arboleda combined for 16 in the Hawkeyes victory.

The Batangueños bravely fought against the powerhouse Cignal crew, keeping themselves in the game and even grabbed a 66-65 lead after a James Forrester jumper in the last 1:18.

But Arboleda canned a corner trey to reclaim the lead for Cignal, 68-66, with 57.0 seconds remaining, and Forrester threw an errant pass which was easily intercepted by Pamboy Raymundo to clinch the game in the clutch.

CJ Isit topscored for Batangas (4-2) with 14 points, four rebounds, and four assists.

Box Scores:

Cignal 70-Perkins 15, Sumalinog 15, Arboleda 8, Jose 8, Villarias 8, Atkins 6, Bringas 4, Raymundo 4, Batino 2, Arong 0, Cahilig 0, Sara 0

Batangas 66-Isit 14, Bautista 9, Saitanan 9, Sedurifa 8, De Joya 7, Ablaza 6, Forrester 5, Laude 5, Ragasa 2, Dela Pena 1, Anderson 0, Mangabang 0, Mendoza 0, Napoles 0

Quarterscores: 14-15, 34-33, 55-49, 70-66

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