MANILA, Philippines - Ex-pros Rudy Lingganay and JR Cawaling combined for their team’s last eight points as Kama Motors pulled off a thrilling 76-74 victory over Foton in the PCBL Founders Cup at the Filoil Flying V Arena.
Lingganay, who played as point guard for Powerade, GlobalPort and Kia in the PBA, hit back-to-back baskets, including the go-ahead lay up that put Kama Motors on top at 72-71 with still 1:05 left in the game.
Cawaling, a member of the grand slam team San Mig Coffee in 2014 but was acquired by Kia in the dispersal draft, also played a key role in Kama Motors’ second win in four matches.
He made up for an technical foul during a verbal altercation with Levi Hernandez.
With Kama Motors trailing 72-74, Cawaling buried a triple from deep left to put his team back in the lead with 32 seconds left.
Foton, which went almost exclusively to Mikee Reyes on isolation plays down the stretch, still went to its prized guard acquisition, who missed in his last three trips, including a potential game-tying jumper after Lingganay split his charities at the other end.
Kama Motors’ sister team, Caida Tiles, continued its winning ways and kept a hold of the solo lead after outlasting a hard-fighting Sta. Lucia squad, 65-64, in the other game.
Caida remained unbeaten in this tournament supported by Spalding, Ambucore, Accel and Aquabest.
The loss was the second in four games for the Realtors, who dropped to joint third with Kama Motors.