DILIMAN College-Gerry's Grill came away with an 82-70 victory over SMDC-NU on Thursday in the 2019 PBA D-League at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
The Blue Dragons fought back from a 12-point first half deficit and went to Joseph Brutas down the stretch to pick up their second in the Foundation Group.
Brutas highlighted his second half onslaught with three straight treys in the final four minutes of play as Diliman College stretched a 67-63 lead to a 76-64 advantage.
"I know Brutas for three years now. He's a young player pero kilala ko yung puso ng batang yan," lauded coach Rensy Bajar of his go-to-guy.
Brutas finished with 13 points, five rebounds, and two assists.
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Beninese big man Kevin Gandjeto led Diliman College with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Marco Balagtas chipped in 14 points along with seven boards and one block while John Mahari added 13 markers off the bench for Diliman College which even its record to 2-2.
"Defense won it for us," said Bajar, noting that the Blue Dragons held NU to just 28.2-percent clip from the field.
"Yun ang sinasabi ko sa kanila lagi. 'Di kami kilala sa tournament na 'to but were striving. We want to prove to ourselves that we can compete."
John Lloyd Clemente had 22 points and six rebounds to lead SMDC-NU, which fell to 0-4.
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John Galinato scored 16 points and Issa Gaye had 10 points and 15 rebounds for the Bulldogs.
The Scores:
DILIMAN-GERRY'S 82 -- Gandjeto 16, Balagtas 14, Mahari 13, Brutas 13, Torrado 8, Bonsubre 5, Bauzon 5, Cabanag 6, Brill 2, Darang 0, Enriquez 0, Sombero 0.
SMDC-NU 70 -- Clemente 22, Galinato 16, Gaye 10, Sistoza 8, D. Ildefonso 6, Gallego 3, Mangayao 3, Diputado 2, Rangel 0, Yu 0, Sinclair 0, S. Ildefonso 0.
Quarters: 20-25, 36-43, 60-56, 82-70.
