By Adrian Stewart Co

The CEU Scorpions pulled off a 77-74 upset over the Cignal HD-Ateneo Blue Eagles in Game 2 of the 2019 PBA D-League finals last Tuesday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City. The best-of-five series is currently tied at 1-1.
“I think we [were] able to redeem ourselves,” said Scorpions head coach Derrick Pumaren. “I told my players to believe in themselves, that we can be in the same league [as] Ateneo.”
“We [were] able to show up in the championship game,” he added.
After seeing a 10-point edge turn into a 72-all tie on back-to-back triples by Cignal HD-Ateneo’s Samjosef Belangel, CEU leaned on free throws from Rich Guinitaran, Jerome Santos, and Ilonggo player Franz Diaz to complete the stunning result.
In addition to draining precious free throws, CEU also thrived in defense after making Ilonggo player Ferdinand ‘Thirdy’ Ravena III travel while Ateneo was down 75-74 and forcing Belangel to miss on a potential game-tying three.
Santos finished the game with a double-double on 28 points and 10 rebounds for the winning side, while Maodo Malick Diouf added 23 markers and 16 boards./ASC, WDJ