MAR Villahermosa buried a game-tying three-pointer with 0.6 of a second left in regulation, then scored another key trey in overtime to lift Big Chill to a come-from-behind 89-83 win over Fruitas on Thursday in their knockout match in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup at the Blue Eagle Gym.
Villahermosa’s heroics propelled Big Chill to a semifinal match-up with four-time defending champion NLEX after overcoming Fruitas’ twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.
The Superchargers went from nearly not making it past the eliminations to becoming surprise semifinalists thanks to Villahermosa, who buried the game-tying three-pointer to send the game into an extra period.
The former San Beda guard added another triple that increased Big Chill’s lead to 84-78 with 1:29 left in overtime.
Villahermosa’s late heroics overshadowed another fine offensive performance from Terrence Romeo, who once again torched his college team by scoring 20 points. Jeckster Apinan also had 20 points while Janus Lozada and Mark Canlas had 16 and 12 points, respectively.
Big Chill coach Robert Sison admitted he was surprised to see his team come back from a 13-point halftime deficit. The Superchargers still trailed by six points with one minute to play in the fourth period.
“I never thought we’ll going to win this game until that Villahermosa made that three,” Sison said. “After that, momentum was on our side."
It was a disappointing loss for Fruitas, which led 75-69 with 1:06 in the fourth but never scored again in the fourth.
Romeo split his two charities and Apinan scored on a drive to cut Fruitas’ lead to three points, 72-75.
Roger Pogoy had a chance to push Fruitas’ lead to five points but he missed two free throws with 5.7 seconds left in regulation, setting the stage for Villahermosa's game-tying three-pointer.
Fruitas took a 40-27 halftime lead by scoring 27 points in the second period. But the Shakers were outscored, 48-35, in the second half.
The scores:
Big Chill (89) — Romeo 20, Apinan 20, Lozada 16, Canlas 12, Villahermosa 9, Montilla 5, Bringas 4, Heruela 3, Dumapig 0, Santos 0.
Fruitas (83) — Escobal 18, Pogoy 14, Cruz 12, Caram 8, Colina 8, Antonio 6, Mendoza 5, Lastimosa 5, Semira 4, Tolomia 2, Sentcheu 1.
Quarterscores: 14-13; 27-40; 55-63; 75-75; 89-83.
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