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[av_heading heading=’ Cignal Hawkeyes bags PBA D-League crown ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – Cignal HD Hawkeyes snared the 2017 PBA D-League Foundation Cup crown with a 79-69 win over Centro Escolar University Scorpions in Game 2 of the best-of-three finals at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
Chris Sumalinog and Harold Arboleda led the way with 13 points apiece for Hawkeyes, which became just the third PBA D-League to sweep the Aspirants and Foundation Cup championships.
On Thursday night Jonathan Uyloan chipped in with 11 points, on 3-of-8 shooting from threes, while Jason Perkins had eight markers, seven rebounds and two assists.
With the win, Hawkeyes replicated its 78-56 Game 1 victory on Tuesday.
“Nobody expected us to win a championship. ‘Yung lineup namin some guys come in and they have to adjust to our system right away. But again, it’s really the effort of the players who want to win it,” said Hawkeyes head coach Boyet Fernandez.
From a tightly-contested opening quarter, Hawkeyes started to pull away from the match in the second quarter with three-point conversions from Arboleda and Uyloan for a 45-30 halftime lead.
Hawkeyes continued its hot shooting in the second half and was able to build its largest lead at 69-50 on a Uyloan triple but Scorpions rallied behind Ilonggo Aaron Jeruta and Art Aquino to come to within 75-67.
The team, which played the championship series sans Conference MVP Raymar Jose due to Gilas Pilipinas duty, was able to thwart the fight back by Scorpions with Arboleda draining four straight free throws to sealed the victory.
Congolese center Rodrigue Ebondo finished with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Orlan Wamar contributed 11 markers for Scorpions, which uses the league to prepare for the collegiate wars.
BOX SCORE:
CIGNAL 79 – Sumalinog 13, Arboleda 13, Uyloan 11, Perkins 8, Apinan 7, Bringas 6, Raymundo 6, Villarias 5, Sara 4, Batino 4, Cahilig 2.
CEU 69 – Ebondo 20, Wamar 11, Guinitaran 9, Casiño 8, Aquino 7, Jeruta 7, Manlangit 4, Baconcon 3, Arim 0, Cruz 0, Intic 0, Saber 0, Uri 0.
Quarterscores: 21-16, 45-30, 60-48, 79-69./PN
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