PERPETUAL Help snapped out of a mini-slump against a suddenly listless Centro Escolar University side and kept alive its bid for a coveted goal yesterday.
Behind a balanced attack, the Altas ripped the Scorpions 93-72 to get back on track in the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup at The Arena in San Juan.
Cyrus Nitura wound up with 17 points, six rebounds and eight assists to spearhead Perpetual’s charge, while Arthur Roque backed him up with 17 markers and five boards.
Carlo Ferreras and skipper Jielo Razon also had 16 and 13 points, respectively, for the Altas, who rediscovered their winning ways after dropping two straight games, counting a 73-80 loss to defending champion EcoOil-La Salle Tuesday last week.
More importantly, the charges of coach Myk Saguiguit improved to 3-2 for solo third and remained in the hunt for a top two finish and an outright semifinals slot.
CEU came off a 92-85 overtime decision over Wangs-Basketball @27 Striker-Letran eight days ago and dropped to 2-2.
“It’s a badly needed win for us. Kasi itong CEU, tapos Letran, iyong mga kapuwestuhan namin so far,” Saguiguit said.
“Inayos lang naming iyon mistakes namin from our two losses at ito, we got the win against CEU,” he added.
Earlier, Wangs Basketball @27 Strikers-Letran sent hapless AMA Online packing with a 71-57 victory.
Energetic big man Pao Javillonar notched 15 points and two rebounds for the Knights, while Kevin Santos added a double-double of 14 and 10.
Letran’s triumph served as a big follow up to a breakthrough 100-92 win over Philippine Sports Performance six days ago and hiked its mark to 2-2.
The Titans failed to recover from a 70-119 shellacking at the hands of Marinerong Pilipino-San Beda University Thursday last week and stayed winless in the tourney with a 0-5 slate.
“Slow start kami and no excuses for us. Credits to the players for stepping up sa second half,” Knights tactician Rensy Bajar said.
“Nag-rely lang kami sa defense na gusto namin maging identity moving forward.”
