Marinerong Pilipino clinched a playoff spot in the 2019 PBA D-League Foundation Cup, defacing Asia's Lashes Tomas Morato, 73-51, Monday at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Eloy Poligrates waxed hot with his 5-of-8 shooting from rainbow country as he powered the Skippers with 17 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
The Cebuano showman's hot-shooting paved the way for Marinerong Pilipino to snag sole leadership in Group A at 4-0, with one win coming from the sudden pullout of Nailtalk-Savio in the developmental ranks.
JBoy Solis chipped in 11 points, while JR Alabanza tallied nine points and six boards in the Skippers' victory.
Things, however, are just about to get harder for the Skippers with a killer schedule against iWalk and CEU up next.
James Martinez led Asia's Lashes (2-2) with 13 points on a 3-of-6 shooting clip from threes, while Jeson Delfinado had nine points and four rebounds in the losing cause.
In the first game, Technological Institute of the Philippines snagged a top two finish of Group B with a 105-95 win over Alberei.
Papa Ndiaye came back with a vengeance for the Engineers, puncturing 37 points, 18 rebounds, and four assists in his first game back from a hamstring injury.
His efforts were enough as TIP locked up a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals with its 5-1 slate.
Bryan Santos got himself a double-double with 28 points, 11 boards, two assists, and two steals, while Ximone Sandagon recorded 12 points and four rebounds.
The win, however, left a bad taste on coach Potit de Vera's mouth as TIP saw its 18-point fourth quarter lead, 92-74, drop down to as low as six, 101-95, with 37 seconds left.
"I'm not happy with today's ball game," he lamented. "I don't want to go to the playoffs with the thinking that our players are good enough."
The Engineers only got relief with Sandagon's putback dunk and Ndiaye's late layup iced the game for good.
"We always have to go all out and I just want to keep on doing that," said de Vera, obviously disappointed with how his crew wasted their 37-point third quarter that flipped a 49-44 halftime lead to a commanding 86-71 edge.
Jonathan Parreno and Jomari Lacastesantos poured 20 points apiece for the hard-luck Kings, which stayed winless through four outings.