Saints foil Skippers’ sweep bid

Game on Monday (Paco Arena, Manila) 3:30 p.m. – Marinerong Pilipino vs BRT-St. Clare

Undeterred BRT Sumisip Basilan-St. Clare spoiled Marinerong Pilipino’s sweep aspiration, fashioning out a wire-to-wire 7460 win to forge a rubber match in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup best-of-three finals yesterday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Taking their stinging 69-59 Game One loss to heart, the Saints came out with their guns ablaze, unleashing a 25-11 start to set the tone of the match early.

Late playoff acquisition Jessie Collado provided a big difference for BRT, connecting with four triples to finish with a game-high 20 points that went with six rebounds, a steal and a block in an efficient 24-minute action though barely back from a hamstring injury that kept him out for the most part of the Foundation Cup.

Team captain Joshua Fontanilla added 14 markers and five assists, Malian big man Mohammed Pare chipped in a 12-10 doubledouble while Jhaps Bautista logged in 11 points for the Saints who dashed the Skippers’ sweep bid and forced a decider on Monday over at the Paco Arena.

“We just don’t want this series to end. That’s the challenge for us so we banked on our defense to cap it off. It’s all about defense,” said coach Stevenson Tiu whose breakthrough D-League championship hopes stayed alive after a couple of painful runner-up finishes with his former team Che’Lu.

“That’s the beauty of basketball. It’s not over until it’s over so we just took that chance to salvage this win. I reminded the guys to make the most out of this opportunity and it’s good that we took care of business,” he added.