Jeff Viernes couldn’t be thankful enough for his teammates, as they did all they could to help him and the Che’lu Bar and Grill Revellers force their 2018 PBA D-League Foundation Cup Finals series versus the Go for Gold Scratchers to the limit.
The conference Most Valuable Player powered Che’lu in their first two wins of the series, but in Game Four Tuesday, Viernes received support from Jessie Collado, Chris Bitoon, Stephen Siruma, Levi Hernandez, and Jay-R Taganas.
All of the mentioned veterans finished in double figures to lift Che’lu to the huge 88-81 victory.
“Yung team namin, nabuo ‘to hindi dahil sa akin lang,” said Viernes, who led Che’lu with 18 points. “Nabuo kami, nagtulong-tulong kami, kaya nandito kami hindi lang dahil sa’kin. Dahil kami, every game, kahit sino pwede mag-step up.
“Which is ngayon ang daming tulong na nakuha, tulong-tulong kami kaya namin nakuha yung panalo ngayon.”
With the Revellers’ excellent performance as a unit – Che’lu shot 41 percent from the floor, collected 17 assists, and forced Go for Gold to 16 errors – Viernes, who went undrafted in the 2013 PBA Draft, dedicated his newly-won MVP award to all of his teammates.
Photo from PBA Images
“Dine-dedicate ko ‘tong award na ‘to hindi lang sa’kin, kung hindi sa buong team namin sa Che’lu, sa teammates ko dahil… Kung hindi kami nagtulong-tulong hindi rin naman kami makakarating dito at ‘di ko makukuha ‘tong award na ‘to.”
Now, the ex-pro hopes that their Game Four outing will carry over to the deciding Game Five this Thursday, still at the Ynares Sports Arena, as the Revellers look to win their first-ever championship in the developmental league.
“Kailangan namin ma-sustain ‘yun until Game Five para makuha namin yung kampeonato.”
