La Salle beats AMA by 83 points

MANILA, Philippines —  This one’s for Ripley’s.

Reigning champion EcoOil-La Salle tore AMA Online into pieces, 126-43, to post the new winning margin record in the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup yesterday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

All players barged into scoring board in the Green Archers’ mammoth 83-point demolition to erase the 76-point winning gap of Tanduay against Zark’s Burgers in the 2017 Foundation Cup, 141-65, for the biggest margin in D-League history.

Raven Cortez and Ben Phillips canned in 19 points each to show the way for EcoOil-La Salle (4-1), which in the process earned a share of the No. 1 seed for now with idle Marinerong Pilipino-San Beda to reinforce its goal for a Top 2 finish and a direct Final Four ticket.

“Well, hindi naman namin iniisip ‘yung record. It’s good that we (eclipsed) it but we just focused on getting better. It’s an opportunity for us to get better and we talked about it before the game na ‘wag naming pipiliin ‘yung kalaban namin,” said assistant coach Gian Nazario.

Only Reed Baclig (10) and Earl Ceniza (10) served as the bright spots for the Titans, who on the wrong end of history tasted their sixth straight but the biggest double-digit loss in the D-League.

Earlier, Centro Escolar U (3-2) stung PSP Gymers in the clutch with a 109-107 double-overtime win to keep its hopes alive for a Top 2 finish.