Revellers snare Game One over Jawbreakers

Che’Lu Bar and Grill-San Sebastian unleashed a strong finishing kick to repulse Zark’s Burgers-Lyceum in a thrilling fourth quarter duel, 107-103, and move a win away from nailing the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup crown at the Pasig City Sports Center yesterday.

Samboy de Leon, Michael Calisaan and Allyn Bulanadi combined in a 7-2 windup, lifting the Revellers from a 100-101 deficit in the final 1:27 and seizing the lead in their short best-of-three series.

Che’Lu Bar goes for the clincher at 4 p.m. tomorrow at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

“Both teams deserve to win. I guess we just executed better on defense at endgame,” said Che’Lu Bar and Grill-SSC coach Stevenson Tiu.

The Revellers clamped down on defense down the stretch, forcing the Jawbreakers to bungle three attempts, including a potential game-tying trey by Jesper Ayaay with 20.3 seconds left in the contest that was close throughout.

De Leon drained a triple that shattered a 101-all count at the 1:19 mark and finished with 18 points, Alfred Batino turned in a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds while Calisaan also logged his own doubledouble with his 15 markers and 12 boards.

Allyn Bulanadi had 13 points while Ryan Costelo and RK Ilagan combined for 22 markers to fill in the void left by veteran playmaker Jeff Viernes, who joined Global Port in the PBA after helping the team in the playoffs with an average of 18.3 points.

“We challenged our guards during practice that even if we don’t have Jeff Viernes, we can still win. They proved it today (yesterday),” added Tiu.