Scorpions sting Zark's for 2nd win
Centro Escolar University broke away in the second half and clobbered Zark’s Burgers, 78-62, to notch its first back-to-back wins in the PBA DLeague Foundation Cup yesterday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
Congolese center Rod Ebondo produced 23 points and 21 rebounds as the Scorpions took charge after a slim 41-36 halftime lead to forge a share of sixth to seventh places with idle Wangs Basketball at 2-2.
Christian Uri and JK Casino had 11 and 10 points, respectively, even as Orlan Wamar added nine for CEU, which is gaining strides after starting the conference with losses to Wangs and Tanduay.
“Medyo nakakapag-adjust na rin kami, but still, ang dami pa ring mga lapses,” said CEU coach Yong Garcia. “Lagi naming sinasabi na kailangan naming mag-focus at mag-improve every game. And today’s win is credit to the boys dahil nag-focus talaga sila sa game.”
Former University of Santo Tomas guard Clark Bautista scored 16 points but Zark’s dropped to 1-4.
Earlier, Batangas routed AMA Online Education, 95-76, to climb into solo second place at 3-1.
Jhaps Bautista hit 12 of his 22 points in the first half to help Batangas rebound from a 72-70 loss to CEU last week.
The team coached by Eric Gonzales is behind unbeaten Flying V for the top spot in the tournament.
AMA remained winless after four games, spoiling another productive outing from Ivan Villanueva and Andre Paras.
Villanueva scored 14 points while Paras once again dominated the boards with 22 in his three games with the Titans.