Tuesday, September 09, 2008 Fivers no show; Miners win by default By Roderick Osis
THE Miners cruised to an easy no-sweat win Sunday night to notch their fourth win against three setbacks fortifying their position in the semifinals in bracket B of the Centennial Cup Invitational Basketball Tournament at the Coyeesan Sports Center.
Team Fivers failed to show up during the game causing officials to declare the win to the Miners through default.
"A win is still a win for us, but we just want to let everybody know in the bracket that our team is no pushover and the boys want to prove that their win against the Fivers during our first meeting was no fluke," Miners coach Felizardo Gacad said.
The win puts the Miners in second place of bracket B with Eksinayn in third place having a 3-2 win loss card while Evergold is in fourth with a 2-4 win-loss record.
Kaffe Klatsch and Eksinayn are squaring off as of press time Monday. A win by the Kaffe Klastch will put the Miners in a safe second place while an Eksinayn win will automatically put them in second place and will need to win another against Evergold to have a twice-to-beat advantage in the semifinals.
However, if Eksinayn drops their two remaining scheduled games for the week, an automatic twice-to-beat advantage will be given to the Miners after beating both Eksinayn and Evergold in the first round of play in their bracket, but both teams handed the back to back losses of the Miners in the second round.
Kaffe remains the only team unbeaten and needs to win at least one in its two remaining assignments to solidify the first place spot in bracket B.
Meanwhile, the Saint Louis University (SLU)-All Stars will gun for their third win as it aims for an automatic semifinal berth when they face the young Tea House in bracket A at the University of the Cordilleras (UC) gym on Tuesday at 8:30 in the evening.
Beneco and JVG will also square off 10 p.m. Wednesday evening also at the UC gym to wrest the solo leadership in bracket A of the competition.
Beneco, fresh from conquering BMRP 1 last Sunday morning, will rely on its big men led by Reagan Acdong and Johnny Pascau to avenge their only loss against the Dental Center in their earlier meeting.
JVG meanwhile will have the trio of Nelson Juco, Arnel Santos and Jerry Rigos to solidify its first-place lead in the bracket and will enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage in the semifinals.
About 39 teams in the six brackets are seeing action in the Baguio Centennial Cup pitting top amateur basketball players in Baguio and Benguet.
Six teams will square off in bracket A of the competition while five more each in brackets B and C and another six teams from the Boys High Alumni will also see action in the tournament with a double round robin format.
Both brackets D and E with eight and nine teams respectively will play the single- round elimination format.
