Ever Bilena thwarts Smart-UP, nears title

Ever Bilena held off Smart Buddy-UP’s fightback down the stretch to post a 67-57 victory to gain the headstart in their best-of-three series for the Women’s Philippine Basketball League crown at the Letran gym in Intramuros last night.

The Gandang Pinay nearly squandered a 46-29 lead in the third period but hung tough as Auimi Ono and Nikki Leonardo came through with timely hits to clinch the victory that moved the team from within a win of clinching the crown.

Ever Bilena goes for the title tomorrow at the Guadalupe Viejo Sports Complex in Makati.

The Manny V. Pangilinan-backed Smart squad rallied to within, 57-61, with over a minute left in the contest.

But the Gandang Pinay put their act together and came through with big plays to finally seal the win.

“We have the tendency to relax with a big lead. I just told them to take it easy and we were lucky to get the breaks down the stretch,” said Gandang Pinay coach Pat Aquino.

Ono topscored for Ever Bilena with 19 points while coming through with eight rebounds and four assists.

Leonardo, who starred in the team’s semis win over Oracle Residences, finished with 16 points, 14 of them in the first half which they took, 35-23.

Former UAAP MVP Marichu Bacaro dished out another solid game for Ever Bilena with 14 points, six assists and the same number of boards.

Fille Cainglet paced Smart Buddy-UP with 17 markers.

Earlier, Harbour Centre defeated Toyota Otis, 86-78, to close in on the first outright semifinal berth in the 2009 PBL PG Flex Linoleum Cup at the Letran gym in Intramuros.

The Batang Pier used a big second quarter run to beat the Sparks for the second straight time in the season-opening tournament and notch their eighth win in nine games.

“It’s a good win before the Christmas break, everybody played well especially our big guys Jerwin (Gaco) and Rico (Maierhofer),” said Harbour coach Jorge Gallent.

The Batang Pier need only to win one of the three remaining games to advance to the Final Four outright.

The Sparks fell to 3-5. They must sweep their last four games to gain a crack at the other outright semis slot.

“We challenge our frontline to beat Toyota Otis sa boards and they just did it,” said Gallent who drew another solid game from Benedict Fernandez in the absence of guard Mark Barroca.

A big letdown in the team’s shoch 78-74 loss to Pharex last week, the 6-foot Fernandez exploded for 20 points aside from grabbing seven boards.

The 6-foot-6 Maierhofer dominated the shaded lane anew and came away with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

The Sparks surged ahead at 25-23 on a jumper by Jonathan Aldave early in the second round.

But the Batang Pier countered with a 15-0 blitz to wrest control before Edwin Asoro came through with a tough undergoal shot for a 38-25 Harbour lead.