Super Chargers rip Elite, gain semis

MANILA, Philippines - Big Chill overcame a sloppy start then drew big games from Jessie Collado and Jewel Ponferrada in the second half as it dispatched Blackwater, 82-62, to advance to the semifinal round of the PBA Aspirants Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City yesterday.

 Collado banged away 19 points while Ponferrada powered his way to 12 points and 11 rebounds as the Super Chargers charged back from a 13-point first quarter deficit with a series of spurts in the last two quarters to beat the Elite and arrange a Final Four showdown with powerhouse NLEX.  

Big Chill shot 61 percent in the second quarter to seize control at the turn, 35-31, then outscored the Elite in the third, 22-8, to win pulling away.

“Our immediate goal this conference was to get into the quarters. Now, we’re in the semis. Hopefully we could kept it up,” said Big Chill coach Arsenio Dysangco.   

The Super Chargers stifled the Elite with pressure defense in the second period to wipe out a double-digit deficit then imposed their will off the board and went 11-of-18 from the field to wrest control.

The Elite, who needed to beat Big Chill twice to snatch a semis seat, pounced on the Super Chargers so-so start to build a 22-9 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.

But they failed to sustain their charge, enabling the Super Chargers to come back with Collado and Ponferrada leading the counter-attack.

Clark Bautista and Gio Ciriacruz each scored 17 points for the Elite, who made just four of 20 attempts (20 percent) in the second quarter and two of 13 (15 percent) in the third.

Alex Mallari, Raymond Maconocido and Raffy Reyes scored nine points apiece for Big Chill, which shot 53 percent from the field (35 of 66) and outrebounded Blackwater, 53-34, to negate their 17 turnovers.

The scores:

Big Chill 82 – Collado 15, Ponferrada 12, Maconocido 9, Mallari 9, Reyes 9, Glorioso 8, Jensen 8, Dizon 6, Santos 2, Tan 2, Custodio 2.

Blackwater 62 – Bautista 17, G. Ciriacruz 17, Fortuna 17, Bringas 7, Acidre 6, I. Ciriacruz 6, Afuang 2, Tan 2, Pascual 0, Doligon 0.

Quarterscores: 9-22, 35-31, 57-39, 82-62