Monday, December 13, 2004
Sun.Star Cebu cagers win Game 1 of NBAC best-of-3 championship
SUN.STAR Cebu moved a game away from recapturing the title it held twice after snatching Game 1 of the Newsmen Basketball Association of Cebu (NBAC) Cebu City Cup 2nd Conference best-of-three finals series over archrival GMA 7/dySS, 55-53, at the Cogon-Ramos Sports Complex yesterday.
In the fight for third, Bombo Radyo/ABC 21 drew first blood in their own best-of-three series by blasting ABS-CBN, 64-52.
With the victory, the two-time champion Sun.Star could regain the championship on Sunday with another win and spoil GMA’s grand-slam bid.
One of the biggest reasons for Sun.Star’s crucial win was its full-force presence for the first time since the conference started, enabling it to take on GMA’s run-and-gun game head on.
Sun.Star and GMA engaged in a toe-to-toe fight in the opening quarter with neither team taking control of the game.
Gunners
But the ensuing period saw the gunners of Sun.Star, led by two-time MVP Efren Lonzon, Erwin Lirazan and Patrick Costelo, finding their mark to tow the team to a 28-21 lead at the bend.
And although Paul Taneo scored just six points, his presence was also a huge factor for Sun.Star’s victory, which ended its long losing streak to the GMA five, as he contributed much to Sun.Star’s defense and offense, particularly inside the paint.
The Sun.Star dribblers continued their hot shooting in the penultimate canto and were able to extend this to a 10-point cushion in the waning minutes of the period.
GMA 7, with Godfrey Rellin and two-time MVP Jun Solon leading the charge, however, launched a booming rally that slashed down Sun.Star’s lead to three points, 45-42, inside six minutes of the final period.
Taneo rescued Sun.Star from disaster after that rally by GMA as he pulled down key defensive rebounds and scored four consecutive points in stretching the team’s lead to a more comfortable 49-42.
But the GMA quintet’s furious rally didn’t end there as they closed the gap once more in the dying minutes despite having one of its key player Rellin in foul trouble by moving just within two points. Sun.Star, though, held on the end as it completely shut out GMA’s frantic plays to preserve the victory.
Lirazan played another brilliant game for Sun.Star despite suffering a mild case of jetlag after covering the Manny Pacquiao fight in Manila as he led the team in scoring with 15 points, while Lonzon and Costelo chipped in 14 and 13, respectively.
Bombo/ABC 21 (64) - Gealon 19, Mahinay 14, Cañete 9, Quimod 9, Tabanao 8, Gudin 5. ABS-CBN (52) - Malazarte 25, Almendras 14, Tariman 4, Milgazo 2, Ponce 2.
Sun.Star (55) - Lirazan 15, Lonzon 14, Costelo 13, Taneo 6, Aclao 4, Nilles 3, Tabada 2. GMA 7 (53) - Rellin 33, Solon 16, Suarez 2, Veliganio 2. (JSV)
(December 13, 2004 issue)
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