# 2016 PBA D-League Aspirants' Cup

The 2016 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup was the first conference of the 2015-16 PBA Developmental League season. It was opened on January 21, 2016 at the Filoil Flying V Center and competed by 9 teams and it was finished on April 14, 2016 where the Phoenix-FEU Accelerators defeated the Cafefrance Bakers-CEU in the best-of-5 finals showdown, 3 games to 2 and clinching their first ever title in their franchise.

## Draft

The draft was conducted on December 1, 2015 at the PBA Cafe in Pasig. 215 hopefuls were applied in the draft for the chance to play in the league.
Draft Order:
First Round
* 1.) Jason Perkins (Racal/Keramix - DLSU)
* 2.) Julian Sargent (AMA University - DLSU)
* 3.) Von Pessumal (Tanduay Light - Ateneo)
* 4.) Taylor Statham (Cafe France)
* 5.) Avery Scharer (Wang's Basketball - Shoreline CC)
* 6.) Mikey Williams (Mindanao Aguilas - Cal State U)
* 7.) Agustini Amar (Jam Liner - UP)
* 8.) Richard Escoto (Phoenix Petroleum - FEU)
* 9.) BDO-NU - Passed
Second Round
* 1.) Jordan Rios (Racal/Keramix - St. Clare)
* 2.) Ryan Pascual (AMA University - Cal State-Long Beach)
* 3.) Alfonso Gotladera (Tanduay Light - Ateneo)
* 4.) John Karl Casiño (Cafe France - CEU)
* 5.) Anton Castro (Wang's Basketball - Adamson)
* 6.) Taylor Wetherell (Mindanao Aguilas)
* 7.) Alfrancis Tamsi (Phoenix Petroleum - FEU)
* 8.) Jam Liner - Passed
* 9.) BDO-NU - Passed

## Format

Conference format as it follows:
* Teams will play in a single round-robin elimination round.
* Top 8 teams will advance to the quarterfinals while the 9th placer team will be eliminated.
* Top 4 teams will get a twice-to-beat quarterfinals incentive against lower-ranked teams to determine the semifinals placings. Semifinals is a best-of-three affair.
* The two teams who won the semifinals matches will battle in a best-of-5 championship series.

## Eliminations

The elimination round will run from January 21 to March 7, 2016. Games will be held in Filoil Flying V Arena, San Juan and Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig.

### Team standings

Team standing at the end of the elimination round:
| Pos | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | Qualification |
| 1 | Cafefrance-CEU | 7 | 1 | .875 | — | Twice-to-beat in the quarter-finals |
| 2 | Caida Tile Masters | 7 | 1 | .875 | — | Twice-to-beat in the quarter-finals |
| 3 | UP-QRS Jam Liner | 5 | 3 | .625 | 2 | Twice-to-beat in the quarter-finals |
| 4 | Phoenix Petroleum-FEU | 5 | 3 | .625 | 2 | Twice-to-beat in the quarter-finals |
| 5 | Tanduay Rhum Light Masters | 5 | 3 | .625 | 2 | Twice-to-win in the quarter-finals |
| 6 | AMA University Titans | 2 | 6 | .250 | 5 | Twice-to-win in the quarter-finals |
| 7 | BDO-NU | 2 | 6 | .250 | 5 | Twice-to-win in the quarter-finals |
| 8 | Wangs Basketball | 1 | 7 | .125 | 6 | Twice-to-win in the quarter-finals |
| 9 | Mindanao Aguilas | 1 | 7 | .125 | 6 | Eliminated |

### Schedule

| Team ╲ Game | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| AMA Online Education | CAI | PNX | BDO | TAN | WNG | MIN | CFE | JAM |
| BDO — NU Bulldogs | JAM | CFE | AMA | MIN | PNX | WNG | TAN | CAI |
| Café France Bakers — CEU | MIN | BDO | JAM | CAI | WNG | TAN | AMA | PNX |
| Caida Tile Masters | TAN | AMA | WNG | CFE | PNX | JAM | MIN | BDO |
| Z.C. Mindanao Aguilas | CFE | WNG | TAN | JAM | BDO | AMA | CAI | PNX |
| Phoenix Petroleum Accelerators — FEU Tamaraws | WNG | AMA | JAM | CAI | BDO | TAN | CFE | MIN |
| QRS/JAM Liner — UP Fighting Maroons | BDO | TAN | CFE | PNX | MIN | CAI | WNG | AMA |
| Tanduay Light Rhum Masters | CAI | JAM | MIN | WNG | AMA | CFE | BDO | PNX |
| Wang's Basketball | PNX | MIN | CAI | TAN | CFE | AMA | JAM | BDO |

### Results

| Team | BDO | CAF | CAI | JAM | MIN | PHO | TAN | WAN |
| AMA | 87–93 | 78–97 | 103–84 | 100–84 | 91–85 | 102–114 | 92–83 | 97–90 |
| BDO | | 86–110 | 68–89 | 85–90 | 67–73 | 74–90 | 81–83 | 106–97 |
| Caféfrance | | | 90–87 | 94–73 | 89–65 | 83–74 | 74–79 | 106–73 |
| Caida | | | | 118–86 | 95–87 | 108–91 | 90–79 | 110–106 |
| JAM | | | | | 100–75 | 98–84 | 102–86 | 80–69 |
| Mindanao | | | | | | 80–90 | 56–95 | 97–88 |
| Phoenix Petroleum | | | | | | | 85–80 | 107–70 |
| Tanduay | | | | | | | | 90–75 |
| Wang's | | | | | | | | |

## Playoffs

| Quarterfinals (Higher seeds have twice-to-beat) | Quarterfinals (Higher seeds have twice-to-beat) | Quarterfinals (Higher seeds have twice-to-beat) | Quarterfinals (Higher seeds have twice-to-beat) | Semifinals (best-of-3 series) | Semifinals (best-of-3 series) | Semifinals (best-of-3 series) | Finals (best-of-5 series) | Finals (best-of-5 series) | Finals (best-of-5 series) |
| 1 | Cafefrance-CEU | Cafefrance-CEU | 90 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Wang's Basketball | Wang's Basketball | 72 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Wang's Basketball | Wang's Basketball | 72 | 1 | Cafefrance-CEU | 2 | | | |
| | | | | 5 | Tanduay Rhum Masters | 0 | | | |
| 3 | UP-QRS/Jam Liner | 66 | 89 | 5 | Tanduay Rhum Masters | 0 | | | |
| 5 | Tanduay Rhum Masters | 68 | 99 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Tanduay Rhum Masters | 68 | 99 | | | | 1 | Cafefrance-CEU | 2 |
| | | | | | | | 4 | Phoenix-FEU | 3 |
| 2 | Caida Tile Masters | Caida Tile Masters | 122 | | | | | | | 4 | Phoenix-FEU | 3 |
| 6 | AMA University Titans | AMA University Titans | 97 | | | | | | |
| 6 | AMA University Titans | AMA University Titans | 97 | 2 | Caida Tile Masters | 0 | | | |
| | | | | 4 | Phoenix-FEU | 2 | | | |
| 4 | Phoenix-FEU Accelerators | Phoenix-FEU Accelerators | 92 | 4 | Phoenix-FEU | 2 | | | |
| 7 | BDO-NU Bulldogs | BDO-NU Bulldogs | 72 | | | | | | |

### Quarterfinals

* AksyonTV
* March 10 14:00
* Report
| Café France-CEU Bakers | 90–72 | Wang's Basketball |
| Scoring by quarter: 26–9, 25–22, 22–20, 17–21 |||
| Pts: de Leon 15 | | Pts: Romero 12 |
* Ynares Sports Arena, Antipolo City
* AksyonTV
* March 10 16:00
* Report
| Tanduay Rhum Masters | 68–66 | UP QRS/Jam Liner |
| Scoring by quarter: 13–26, 10–13, 29–16, 16–11 |||
| Pts: Llagas 13 | | Pts: Aguilar 17 |
* Ynares Sports Arena, Antipolo City
* AksyonTV
* March 17
| UP QRS/Jam Liner | Tanduay Rhum Masters |
| Scoring by quarter: 21–28, 24–13, 11–25, 23–33 |||
| Pts: Alolino 24 | Pts: Belencion 27 |
| Tanduay wins series in two games |||
* Ynares Sports Arena, Antipolo
* AksyonTV
* March 15 16:00
* Report
| Phoenix-FEU Accelerators | 92–72 | BDO-NU Team |
| Scoring by quarter: 21–22, 30–13, 21–21, 20–16 |||
| Pts: Tolomia 19 Rebs: Belo 12 Asts: Tolomia 6 | | Pts: Aroga 21 Rebs: Aroga 15 Asts: Aroga 6 |
* San Juan Arena, San Juan, Metro Manila
* AksyonTV
* March 15 14:00
| Caida Tile Masters | 122–97 | AMA University Titans |
| Scoring by quarter: 32–20, 19–27, 42–23, 29–27 |||
| Pts: Perkins 17 Rebs: Jalalon 4 | | Pts: McCarthy 20 Rebs: King 9 |
* San Juan Arena, San Juan City

## Semifinals

This round is in a best-of-3 format. The winner advances to the finals.

### CafeFrance vs. Tanduay series

* AksyonTV
* March 27
| CafeFrance Bakers - CEU | 65–58 | Tanduay Light Rhum Masters |
| Scoring by quarter: 18-16, 14-12, 17-16, 16-14 |||
| Pts: Ebondo 14 Rebs: Ebondo 10 | | Pts: Llagas 13 Rebs: Cruz 5 |
* San Juan Arena, San Juan, Metro Manila
* AksyonTV
* March 29 17:00
| CafeFrance Bakers - CEU | Tanduay Light Rhum Masters |
| Scoring by quarter: 19-16, 24-12, 8-16, 21-19 |||
| Pts: De Leon, Ebondo 13 each Rebs: Abundo 7 | Pts: Lingganay 17 Rebs: Lingganay 9 |
| Cafefrance sweeps series, 2–0 |||
* San Juan Arena, San Juan, Metro Manila

### Phoenix vs. Caida series

* AksyonTV
* March 22 14:00
| Phoenix-FEU Accelerators | 90–83 | Caida Tile Masters |
| Pts: Daquioag 32 Rebs: Ru. Escoto 10 | | Pts: Grey 14 Rebs: Grey 4 |
* San Juan Arena, San Juan, Metro Manila
* AksyonTV
* March 29 17:00
| Caida Tile Masters | Phoenix-FEU Accelerators |
| Scoring by quarter: 28-26, 18-28, 26-15, 22-21 |||
| Pts: Grey 22 | Pts: Daquioag 22 |
| Phoenix sweeps series, 2–0 |||
* San Juan Arena, San Juan, Metro Manila

## Finals

* AksyonTV
* March 31
| Cafefrance Bakers-CEU | 78–82 | Phoenix-FEU Accelerators |
| Scoring by quarter: 17-12, 24-17, 24-21, 17-28 |||
| Pts: Ebondo 16 Rebs: Ebondo 18 | | Pts: Pogoy 18 Rebs: Pogoy 9 |
* Ynares Sports Arena, Antipolo
* AksyonTV
* April 5
| Cafefrance Bakers-CEU | 86–77 | Phoenix-FEU Accelerators |
| Scoring by quarter: 20-23, 29-11, 20-17, 17-26 |||
| Pts: Cruz 18 Rebs: Ebondo 20 | | Pts: Belo 22 Rebs: Belo 9 |
* San Juan Arena, San Juan, Metro Manila
* AksyonTV
* April 7
| Phoenix-FEU Accelerators | 85–84 | Cafefrance Bakers-CEU |
| Scoring by quarter: 18-17, 17-20, 26-31, 24-16 |||
| Pts: Belo 22 Rebs: Pogoy 12 Asts: Pogoy 3 | | Pts: Ebondo 18 Rebs: Ebondo 18 |
* Ynares Sports Arena, Antipolo
With only 2.3 seconds left in the final frame and the Bakers leading by 2, 84-82, Roger Pogoy made a game-winning 3 pointer where it was assisted by Achie Inigo to close the gap to an inch for winning the 2016 PBA Aspirant's Cup title.
* AksyonTV
* April 12
| Cafefrance Bakers-CEU | 100–94 | Phoenix-FEU Accelerators |
| Scoring by quarter: 21–21, 26–23, 28–20, 25–30 |||
| Pts: Zamar 25 Rebs: Ebondo 13 | | Pts: Tolomia 29 Rebs: Belo 15 |
* San Juan Arena, San Juan, Metro Manila
The Bakers led as much as 14, with a score of 82-68 in the final 6:47 of the game before the Mac Belo-led Phoenix-FEU drained down the lead to just a single point, 89-88 in the last 2:58 of the game. But Paul Zamar had answered the destruction to regain the six-point lead by the Bakers, 94-88 with 1:07 remaining.
* AksyonTV
* April 14 15:00
| Cafefrance Bakers-CEU | 81–88 (OT) | Phoenix-FEU Accelerators |
| Pts: Zamar 20 Rebs: Ebondo 20 | | Pts: Belo 25 Rebs: Belo 13 |
| Phoenix wins series, 3–2 |||
* Ynares Sports Arena, Antipolo
Tolomia of the Phoenix-FEU started exchanging threes with Paul Zamar as the Accelerators clinch an 81-78 lead with 2:39 left, but Roger Pogoy joined the party by hitting his shot from the downtown to extend his team's lead to 6, 84-78 in the last 10 seconds before the 2-minute mark.

## Awards

2016 PBA D-League Aspirant's Cup Champions: Phoenix-FEU Accelerators (1st title)
Runners-up: Cafefrance Bakers-CEU
Finals MVP: Mac Belo (19.6 points/game)
Tournament Most Valuable Player:Mac Belo