Mark Nonoy caught fire in the opening half as the EcoOil-La Salle Green Archers scored a 108-82 victory over the Marinerong Pilipino-San Beda Red Lions in Game 1 of the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup finals on Thursday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
Nonoy heated up with 14 points in the first two quarters to end with 16 total points to be named the Player of the Game for the defending champions, the Green Archers.
Michael Phillips top-scored with 19 points, mostly in the second half, while Cyrus Austria contributed 13 markers for the Green Archers, which took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three finale.
The Green Archers went to work early as they established a 15-6 advantage behind early hits from Austria and Vincent David before widening it to 28-18 with conversions from Nonoy.
The lead swelled further for the Green Archers in the second frame with Nonoy, a La Carlota, Negros Occidental-native, connecting from outside while also limiting the Red Lions offense to build their largest advantage of 32 points.
The Red Lions opened the third quarter with a huge run behind Jacob Cortez, Aaron James Royo, and James Payosing to cut the deficit to 14 points, but the Green Archers had quick responses from Kevin Quiambao and Phillips for a 77-61 advantage.
De La Salle University leaned on their inside game in the final quarter, as consecutive hits from Phillips allowed them to maintain a 93-75 spread before widening it to 26 points courtesy of late shots from Elaijah Gollena.
Cortez top-scored for the Red Lions with 18 points to go with five assists, Damie Cuntapay contributed 16 markers; and Payosing and Royo ended up with 13 points each in the loss.
