PBL-Liga dominates UAAP-NC five

MANILA, Philippines - The PBL/Liga Pilipinas Selection stamped its class against younger counterpart from the UAAP/NCAA side, pulling off an 85-72 win in their own exhibition tiff in the Pinoy Basketball Kakampi Nyo! charity event at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

Without a single practice as a team, the commercial ball players took sometime to get their rhythm but once they did, they wiped out a 10-point deficit in the first half.

JR Gerilla, Kojak Melegrito, Angelus Raymundo and Rob Labagala scored 10 points or more, leading the PBL-Liga surge against the collegiate ball players in the event held for the benefit of the typhoon “Ondoy” victims.

Jan Colina of Adamson and Joshua Webb of Letran paced the losing team with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

The UAAP-NCAA side, handled by FEU coach Glenn Capacio, got off to a strong start, playing up-tempo basketball as it took control in the first 20 minutes of play.

Coach Yayoy Alcoseba and his chargers, however, turned things around in the second half.

More experienced, the PBL-Liga players executed better in the final 20 minutes of play with their assault spearheaded by Gerilla, Melegrito, Raymundo and Labagala.

They surged ahead, 60-59, at the close of the third period before going in full throttle in the closing quarter.

Meanwhile, Japeth Aguilar remained firm on his decision to turn his back on Burger King and instead join the Smart Gilas team.

“That’s the decision of the family... for Japeth to play for Smart Gilas. He’s enjoying training with Smart Gilas under coach Rajko Toroman,” said newsman Ronnie Nathanielsz, the agent-adviser of the controversial player.