MJAS Zenith-Talisay City completed a 10-0 sweep of the double-round eliminations to gain an outright finals spot in the 2021 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup-Visayas Leg.
Behind Patrick Cabahug, Talisay City capped its perfect run with a 99-62 rout of ARQ Builders Lapu Lapu on Thursday, April 29 at the Civic Center here in Cebu.
With Talisay City securing an automatic spot in the best-of-three leg finals, the rest of the field need to fight for the remaining title berth in a stepladder format.
At the end of the eliminations, the second seed would advance to the semifinals where they will have a twice-to-beat advantage. The third and sixth seeds, as well as the fourth and fifth seeds, would compete in knockout games where the winners would face one another for the right to take on the second seed in the semis.
“Malaking bagay sa amin na makuha namin yung sweep para makapahinga kami,” said Aquastars head coach Aldrin Morante. “Siguro masasabi ko lang is all of this is because of the players. They deserve to rest.”
(It’s a big thing for us to complete the sweep because we get to rest. All I can say is all of this is because of the players. They deserve to rest.)
Talisay City rode the red-hot shooting of Cabahug in the first period, where he tallied 9 of his game-high 22 points to help the team establish a 24-9 lead.
From there, it was all Talisay City as Lapu Lapu struggled to find the basket and did not get the deficit down to double-digits, going only as close as 12 the rest of the way.
Talisay City closed out the game in dominant fashion, outscoring Lapu Lapu, 30-11, in the fourth period, highlighted by a pair of slam dunks from the high-leaping Jaymar Gimpayan.
Cabahug finished with 5 triples while Kevin Villafranca helped out with 12 points, 5 boards, and 2 assists.
Darrell Menina came off the bench and tallied 11 points, 4 boards, 4 dimes, and 2 steals while wide-bodied big man Allan Santos missed out on a double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds.
Aquastars skipper Paulo Hubalde also orchestrated Talisay City’s offense to perfection and finished with 6 points, 7 boards, and 13 assists.
The Heroes struggled mightily from the field, shooting just 31% including a paltry 4-of-22 from beyond the arc. The loss dropped them to 4-5 with just one more game left on their elims schedule.
Ferdinand Lusdoc paced Lapu Lapu with 12 points while Jojo Tangkay and Chris Regero chipped in 10 markers apiece.
Rendell Senining, who returned from a six-game suspension, had 4 points and 4 assists in 20 minutes.
Lapu Lapu faces Tubigon Bohol for its final assignment in the elims on Friday at 7 pm.
The scores
MJAS-Talisay 99 – Cabahug 22, Villafranca 12, Menina 11, Santos 10, Eguilos 9, Gimpayan 8, Jamon 8, Hubalde 6, Acuña 6, Mojica 5, Moralde 2, Casajeros 0, Alvarez 0, Dela Cerna.
ARQ Lapu-Lapu 62 – Lusdoc 12, Tangkay 10, Regero 10, M. Arong 5, Ochea 4, Abad 4, Senining 4, Juntilla 4, Berame 3, Galvez 2, Mondragon 2, Igot 2, Solis 0, F. Arong 0.
Quarters: 24-9, 41-26, 69-51, 99-62.
– Rappler.com
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