Rodrigue Ebondo of Cafe France celebrates after scoring the game-winning basket.(INQUIRER)
Ebondo hits game winner as Bakers dethrone Fresh Fighters
The Café France Bakers did the improbable as they dethroned the Hapee Fresh Fighters with a scintillating 56-55 victory in the deciding Game 3 of the best-of-three finals series of the PBA D-League Foundation Cup yesterday at the Ynares Sports Arena.
Congolese big Rodrigue Ebondo donned the hero’s cape for the Bakers as he sank the game-winning bucket with 1.8 seconds remaining to give the Bakers their first-ever championship in this league.
With Hapee sitting out San Beda big men Ola Adeogun and Art dela Cruz, Ebondo ran roughshod inside the shaded lane and finished with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots.
Though the Centro Escolar University pivotman was the only player to reach win-digits for Café France, three others – Samboy de Leon, Maverick Ahanmisi and former University of Southern Philippines Foundation wingman Joseph Sedurifa – stepped up and scored seven apiece.
Things appeared to be headed towards a disastrous ending for the Bakers as they lost a 12-point lead and stared a 55-54 deficit after Hapee guard Nico Elorde sank a triple with 45.7 seconds left.
With the title slipping away, Café France hiked up their boots and forced the Fresh Fighters into committing a 24-second shotclock violation to regain possession with 5.9 seconds on the clock.
They then found Ebondo, who promptly drove the ball hard down the left wing before rising and softly kissing it off the glass for the title-clinching basket.
Adeogun and dela Cruz didn’t play since they weren’t allowed to by their college team San Beda, which will be playing in the NCAA wars starting this Saturday.
In their absence, Elorde led the way for the Aspirants Cup champions with 12 points and nine rebounds while former University of San Jose-Recoletos gunner Jess Mar Villahermosa added 11 markers spiked by three triples.