MARINERONG Pilipino rediscovered its winning ways with a 76-71 victory over Adalem Construction-St. Clare in the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena.

Jollo Go sustained his solid play with 19 points and five rebounds while Kemark Cariño was also huge for the Skippers with 12 points, eight boards and four blocks.

Bouncing back from last Thursday’s 64-70 loss to Wang’s Basketball@26-Letran, Marinerong Pilipino rose to 3-1 in second place.

The Knights lead the eight-team field with a perfect 3-0 card.

Earlier, Centro Escolar University made sure that there won’t be any meltdown this time as it plummeled Builders Warehouse-UST, 86-69, to return to the win column.

Apex Fuel-San Sebastian College crushed winless AMA Online, 93-53, to post its second victory in three games.

Juan Gomez de Liaño scored 11 points, including the game’s biggest basket in the last 1:13 that gave the Skippers a 75-69 advantage, while Paolo Hernandez chipped in 10 markers.

The Scorpions repulsed several Growling Tigers rallies behind Franz Diaz and Jerome Santos to secure their second win in four games and tie the Saints in fifth place.

“Importante dito yung learning process dahil gusto ng mga bata na mag-step up talaga. Ayaw nila maging kulelat,” said CEU coach Chico Manabat.

Santos led the Scorpions with 16 points, 11 boards and five assists, Lenard Santiago chipped in 16 points, six rebounds and four steals, while Jhomel Ancheta tallied 10 points and seven boards.

The Stags used their balanced offensive attack with 12 of their 15 players getting in the scoring column, with James Una leading the way with 12 points.

“Ang gusto ko lang naman sa mga bata kahit sino yung kalaban we will be doing always the right thing and the boys played good defense all the way,” said coach Egay Macaraya as Apex Fuel-San Sebastian joined idle EcoOil-La Salle in third spot.

“Iyon ang character saka mentalidad na gusto kong ipasok sa mga bata dahil mga bago ito lahat.”

The Growling Tigers and the Kings remain winless with 0-3 and 0-4 records, respectively.

The scores:

First game

CEU (86) — Diaz 23, Santos 16, Santiago 16, Ancheta 10, Bernabe 8, Tolentino 6, Balogun 4, Cabotaje 3, Ferrer 0, Borromeo 0, Reyes 0.
Builders-UST (69) — Cabañero 16, Concepcion 12, Wilson 11, Manalang 5, Herrera 5, Stevens 4, Mantua 4, Pangilinan 4, Santos 3, Baclaan 3, Lazarte 2, Canoy 0, Gesalem 0, Crisostomo 0.
Quarterscores: 21-10, 45-28, 60-46, 84-69

Second game

Apex Fuel-SSC-R (93) — Una 12, Are 11, Suico 11, Calahat 10, Altamirano 10, Felebrico 9, Yambing 8, Villapando 7, Paglinawan 5, Sumoda 4, Shanoda 3, Escobido 3, Desoyo 0, Ventura 0, Gabat 0.
AMA Online (53) — Dela Cruz 10, Ceniza 8, Velchez 6, Kapunan 6, Villamor 6, Palana 5, Gile 4, Baclig 3, D. Cruz 3, R. Cruz 2, Yambao 0, Romero 0, Alina 0, Pineda 0.
Quarterscores: 32-13, 52-25, 65-42, 93-53

Third game

Marinero (76) — Go 19, Cariño 12, Gomez de Liaño 11, Hernandez 10, Nocum 9, Bonifacio 8, Gamboa 4, Agustin 2, Bonsubre 1, Pido 0, Lacap 0, Garcia 0.
Adalem-St. Clare (71) — Lopez 16, Rojas 15, Estrada 14, Estacio 7, Sablan 5, Manacho 5, Tapenio 3, Ndong 2, Fontanilla 2, Gamboa 2, Sumagaysay 0.
Quarterscores: 15-13, 29-29, 52-52, 76-71.

Games tomorrow

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
10:30 a.m. – Builders Warehouse-UST vs Adalem Construction-St. Clare
12:30 p.m. – Apex Fuel-SSC-R vs EcoOil-DLSU