Cignal-Ateneo recovered from its poor start to stun St. Clare College Virtual Reality, 88-66, Tuesday in the 2019 PBA D-League at JCSGO Gym in Cubao.
Ange Kouame starred for the Blue Eagles, scoring 24 points and grabbing an eye-popping 29 rebounds, 15 of which coming on the offensive front, while also rejecting five shots as he woke up from his slumber and got down to work in the second half.
The Ivorian sparked Cignal-Ateneo’s fightback from a 46-28 deficit as he scored 11 in the telling 31-7 blast to grab a 59-53 edge with 2:02 left in the period.
It was all the Blue Eagles needed as they went on and stuck it to the Saints in the fourth frame to cruise to the 22-point conquest.
“(Our halftime talk was) direct to the point, that we weren’t doing what we said we’ll do before the game,” said coach Tab Baldwin. “We didn’t really make any adjustments and we just went back to basics, play like they wanted to win the game and played like any good team.”
Isaac Go punctured 11 points built on three long bombs, Thirdy Ravena added 10 points, five rebounds, and two steals, and Adrian Wong had 10 in the win.
The Blue Eagles stretched their win streak to three to take hold of the second place in the Aspirants Group with their 5-1 card.
St. Clare, meanwhile, suffered its first defeat in five games to fall to 4-1.
Darwin Lunor collected 12 points and 16 rebounds for the Saints, while Paul Santos had 12 in the losing cause.
The Scores:
Cignal-Ateneo 88 — Kouame 24, Go 11, Ravena 10, Wong 10, Verano 8, Ma. Nieto 6, Mi. Nieto 5, Navarro 4, Tio 3, Belangel 3, Credo 2, Daves 2, Andrade 0, Mamuyac 0, Berjay 0.
St. Clare 66 — Lunor 12, Santos 12, Hallare 11, Fontanilla 10, Pare 9, Rivera 8, Palencia 4, Ambuludto 0, Fuentes 0, Manacho 0, De Leon 0.
Quarterscores: 16-16, 28-44, 65-55, 88-66.
