By Adrian Stewart Co

CEU Scorpions survived a late scare in their 80-77 upset over the Metropac Movers-San Beda Red Lions in the 2019 PBA D-League last Monday at the Paco Arena in Manila.

Judel Fuentes led CEU with 20 points, including four triples; while Maodo Malick Diouf added a double-double with 17 points and 23 rebounds.

The Scorpions needed to survive a scare from the Red Lions as the latter waged a rally from 30-points down and getting to within 78-77 after Donald Tankoua scored down low in the final 16.1 seconds.

Fuentes then rose to the occasion with a game-sealing steal from the Red Lions’ James Canlas before sealing the victory off two free throw conversions with 2.2 seconds remaining.

“I’m still proud with the way the boys played; at least, we can say that we’re [on] par with them,” said Scorpions head coach Frederick Pumaren. “We kept our poise in the end and made stops when we needed them.”/ASC, WDJ