Thursday, August 14, 2008 Kaffe Klastch subdues Miners for 2nd win By Roderick Osis
KAFFE Klatsch notched its second win after subduing the Miners, 73-60, to remain unbeaten in Bracket B in the ongoing Baguio Centennial Cup at the University of the Cordilleras on Wednesday.
Kaffe utilized from the Miners' errors to lead by three, 15-18, at the end of the first quarter.
The start of the second quarter was a show of both teams' defensive prowess until Miner's Jason Orpia scored a fast break to cut the lead by one, 17-18, with 8:28 left in the second period.
Miner TJ Sibuma then intercepted an inbound pass by the coffee drinkers and was eventually fouled. Sibuma then converted one of his two free throws to tie the ball game, with 8:15 left in the first half.
Kaffe Klatsch then broke the tie with an 11-4 run to end the quarter, 22-29.
The Miners slowly clawed back into the ball game cutting down the lead by two, 38-40, with 58:04 left in the third quarter, on the joint efforts of Rudy Vergara, Sydney Soriano and point guard Mike Viduya.
Miners played catch-up the rest of the ball game until they finally led by one, 47-46, with 8:47 left in the pay-off period from a 7-0 run catapulted by Soriano and Sibuma.
But their efforts just went to naught after Kaffe Klatsch staged an 11-2 run to put the miners at bay, 5:18 left in the ball game.
"We had our shots, but these did go in," Zards Gacad said of their terrible shooting during the game, missing 20 out of 34 inside the paint.
Kaffe earlier beat Evergold, 91-78, to secure its first win in the tournament.
In other games, Teahouse nipped the upstart Beti to join opening winner Beneco in Bracket A of the tournament.
In bracket C, BMRP 2 subdued Tiptop, 87-79, to join Benmars, beating Baguio's Finest, 65-61.
St. Bart meanwhile bowed to Bombo Radyo, 69-70 in Bracket E with Hardcore beating Wholesome 86-68.
Wholesome has yet to win the tournament after stooping earlier to Gemini, 84-50. TEJ meanwhile bounced back after an earlier loss to Interlink beating Gemini, 76-73, to score its first win against one defeat.
