Revellers, Scratchers dispute D-League crown
ANEW champion is set to be crowned as Che’lu Bar & Grill and Go For Gold clash in the winner-take-all Game 5 of the 2018 Philippine Basketball Association Developmental League ( PBA D- League)
The Revellers forced the decider - ter en route to an 88-81 victory in Game 4 last Tuesday. Che’lu and Go For Gold now
with the winner coming out as only the eighth franchise to seize a D-League title.
in the season-opening Aspirants’ Cup, Che’lu head coach Stevenson Tiu is seeking to lead his side to the elusive championship this time.
“I challenged them, ‘It already happened to us last conference, do you want to be runners-up again?’ I think everybody accepted the challenge,” said Tiu.
Tiu is hoping that the experience from losing in the Aspirants’ Cup Lyceum will work to the Revellers’ advantage.
was a huge experience for us. Hopefully, that will help us this Game 5,” said the grizzled mentor. “It was a big difference that
series and that some of my players had experienced it.”
Jeff Viernes, who snared the Conference Most Valuable Player award, is expected to take charge of Che’lu along with fellow veterans in Jessie Collado, Chris Bitoon and Stephen Siruma.
Viernes was elated to win the top individual plum but stressed that his goal is to help the Revellers complete their redemption bid.
“My mission is not really to get Jeff Viernes of Che’lu Bar & Grill tries to drive past Paul Desiderio of Go For Gold during Game 4 of the 2018 PBA D-League Foundation Cup finals last Tuesday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
the MVP award but to help
this
in the D-League,” said the 5-foot10 shooting guard.
Go For Gold, however, is also eager to grab its maiden silverware and young mentor Charles Tiu re-
can get the job done.
“On paper, we know the strength of our team. We know that we have the capacity to the win the title. These guys are winners. It’s just a matter of the boys doing what they
have to do,” he said.
Gab Banal, who was a strong
- ure for Go For Gold together with Jai Reyes, Matt Salem and Paul Desiderio.
“It boils down to who wants it
more. Coming into Game 5, we got to be aggressive. There’s no tomorrow, we can’t be relax, we need to be focused, we can’t afford to think other things,” said forward Banal, who is motivated to win the championship for his ailing father.