DEFENDING champion EcoOil-La Salle reasserted its mastery of Marinerong Pilipino-San Beda, 82-71, to complete a sweep and clinch an outright semifinal ticket in the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup Thursday night at the Ynares Sports Arena.

The Green Archers, who swept the Red Lions in last year’s Finals, stamped their class right from the get go en route to claiming the No. 1 ranking with a perfect 5-0 record in the short eliminations.

“The first thing we told our players heading into this game was we have to respect San Beda. They’re not the NCAA champions for nothing and they’re coming off a tough loss against CEU so we expected a physical battle,” said EcoOil-DLSU assistant coach Gian Nazario.

Joshua David led the Green Archers’ balanced attack with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists while Jonnel Policarpio and Raven Cortez each produced 13 points.

EcoOil-DLSU’s win in the battle between UAAP and NCAA champions avoided a three-way tie and, in the process, propelled Centro Escolar University (4-1) to the No. 2 for the other automatic semis.

Marinero-San Beda, which settled for third place with a 3-2 slate, will settle for a place in the quarterfinals, where it has a twice-to-beat advantage against the sixth-ranked Keanzel Basketball (0-5).

The other quarterfinal pairing pits twice-to-beat Go Torakku-St. Clare (2-3) and fifth-place CCI-Yengskivel (1-4).

Bryan Sajonia put up 21 points while Andrada, RC Calimag and Puno added 13 and 11 points, respectively, to lead the fight for the Red Lions.

Games Monday

(Filoil EcoOil Centre)
4:30 p.m. – Marinero-San Beda vs Keanzel
7:30 p.m. – CCI-Yengskivel vs Go Torakku-St. Clare

AUTHOR PROFILE

Theodore P. Jurado