Ceres Pasalubong snare topspot

CERES Pasalubong 2006/07 won the battle for the top spot, as it held off Phoenix 1999/ 2k 78-75 in the 5th SJI Alumni Basketball Friendship Cup played last Thursday at the Msgr. John B. Liu Activities Center.

Waterfull/Celcor 1993/94/95 won a pivotal match against Eleven Degrees 1996/97/98 68-60 to move into 5th place, overtaking their victim who dropped to 6th.

In the knockout quarterfinal matches tonight at 630 pm, No. 3 Terra Dolce/Jollibee 1990/91/92 go up against No. 6 11 Degrees. It will be followed at 745 pm by the battle between No. 4 Shakeys/New Energy Mktg and No. 5 Waterfull/Celcor.

Ceres, which ended its elimination round at 7-1, posted an opening quarter lead 17-14 behind Bren Tajonera’s 8 points and Alvin Dionela’s 6 points against Phoenix’s Rhett Demonteverde and Bogs Ongsingco’s 6 points apiece.

Phoenix blanked Ceres for the 1st 4 minutes of the 2nd quarter and took a 25-17 advantage on a Jan Jan Lopue 3-point play. Lopue finished with 12 points in the quarter.

Keith Banzon broke the ice for Ceres with a triple with 5:40 left in the quarter and Brian Coo and Raymund Lacson joined hands to force a deadlock at the break, 31 all.

Renz Mendoza contributed 10 points for Ceres in the 3rd quarter and an Alvin Dionela lay-up at the 1:26 mark of the 3rd quarter put Ceres on top at 47-40.

A 6-2 closing quarter run led by Paolo Li cut the deficit to 49-46 going to the 4th quarter.

John Michael Moises scored 9 points for Phoenix in the quarter.

Ceres remained on top at 58-51 on a Martin Jalandoni follow up but Ongsingco responded with two undergoal stabs to cut the lead to 3 points.

Raymund Lacson drilled 5 straight points for a 66-57 lead with 3:41 left.

A Demonteverde triple cut the lead to 4 points with 1:33 remaining but Mendoza scoring the next 6 points for Ceres on a 4 of 4 from the 15-foot area kept Phoenix at bay while Ongsingco’s back-to-back basket drew Phoenix closer at 76-72 with 12. 6 seconds left.

Raymund Lacson and Dionela’s split free throws produced the final score for Ceres, as Demonteverde made a triple at the buzzer for the final tally.

Mendoza paced Ceres with 16 points, Brian Coo and Lacson added 15 points apiece,
Dionela made 11 points, Tajonera scored 8 points and Jalandoni added 6 points.

Phoenix ended up at 6-2, losing back-to-back games to Shakey’s and Ceres, was led by Demonteverde with 19 points, Lopue picked up 18 points, Ongsingco shot 16 points and Paolo Li added 9 points.

In the other game, Waterfull slowly built its lead in the 1st 3 quarters by outscoring Eleven Degrees in all quarters for a 50-41 lead.

Eleven Degrees made a late push, cutting the lead to 4 points, but back-to-back triples by Michael Ang sealed the victory for Celcor.

Vincent Javelosa spearheaded Waterfull with 17 points, backstopped by Michael Ang with 11 points, Julius Teruel and Vincent Javelosa made 10 points each and Tubby Villanueva had 6 points.

Berto Uy finished with 17 points, Dino Tongco scored 15 points, Arvin Chua and Tim Garrucho made 7 points each while Siote Diente delivered 6 points. (Stephen Tan)