Depleted Giants outlast Warriors

MANILA, Philippines - Jumbo Plastic demolished MP Hotel despite a badly depleted roster, scoring an emphatic 94-57 victory to seize solo third in the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup at the JCSGO gym in Cubao, QC yesterday.

With their second unit stepping up, the Giants set the tone early as they dominated the boards and silenced the Warriors with their aggressive defense. They virtually settled the outcome at the half at 45-16 and went on to cruise to their second straight win and fourth overall against one loss.

“We know MP Hotel’s weakness is at the point guard spot. So we forced their bigs to bring down the ball. I thought our full-court press held up and our bench also made a difference in this game,” said Jumbo Plastic coach Stevenson Tiu after steering the team to a big follow-up to their 81-65 rout of Wang’s Basketball last Thursday.

Marion Magat led the bench scoring with a game-high 18 points while Dennis Villamor added 13 points and Mark Cruz chipped in 11 markers for the Giants, who stayed behind the unbeaten Hapee and Cagayan Valley, who tote identical 4-0 cards.

Jumbo Plastic played without center-forward McLean Sabellina, who showed up with heavily bandaged right hand after fracturing his index finger last week.