By Adrian Stewart Co

The CEU Scorpions advanced to the 2019 PBA D-League finals after beating St. Clare Saints-Virtual Reality, 89-72, in a decider last Tuesday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
Rich Guinitaran led the win with 23 points and seven rebounds, Dave Bernabe contributed a double-double with 22 points and 14 rebounds, and Maodo Malick Diouf chipped in 14 points.
Trailing 39-38 at the half, CEU went on a massive 20-4 run in the third behind Guinitaran, Bernabe, and Diouf to take a 58-43 edge heading into the fourth.
In the final quarter, CEU suffered a huge blow as Diouf was tagged with a flagrant foul but Guinitaran and Bernabe came up with effective hits for a commanding 83-68 edge with over two minutes left.
CEU, which is down to seven players after half of their roster was earlier kicked out due to game fixing allegations, begin their best-of-five finals series against the Cignal HD-Ateneo Blue Eagles today./ASC, WDJ