Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Sausa ends Inter-Alumni jinx in Executives Cup All-Star game
The Inter-Alumni stalwarts finally lashed back at their Inter-Club counterparts, but not without toiling hard to scrape through a vengeful 120-112 win in last Sunday’s high-scoring 2006 Executives Cup All-Star Game at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym.
Bull-strong forward Dindo Sausa and long-range bomber Chester Cokaliong unloaded 23 points apiece, but it was Sausa who copped the All-Star MVP honors for hitting 11 markers in a crucial stretch that bridged Inter-Alumni to triumph.
Star center Paul Abais finished with 20 points, eight in the final period. Chris Sta. Maria and Joel Chan also added 17 and 15 markers, respectively, as Inter-Alumni snapped its two-game skid to Inter-Club since the league’s inception in 2004.
The MVP award was a toss-up between Sausa, Cokaliong and Abais.
Effective trio
The deadly triumvirate had enormous contributions, as Cokaliong stoked the early offensive fire before Sausa and Abais dealt the finishing kick.
Cokaliong, who shot 50 percent from the field, fired a total of seven 3-pointers, six of which he dropped in the first half, including one that handed the Inter-Alumni of coach Elmer “Boy” Cabahug a double-digit lead, 59-49, after being down by as much as nine points earlier, 31-40.
The Inter-Club squad, however, countered with a 10-3 run to narrow the gap to three at halftime, 59-62. The Inter-Club regained the lead at 72-71 on Andres Seno’s basket, and even padded it to six, 77-71. Sausa, Abais and Sta. Maria joined efforts to put back Inter-Alumni in front, 89-87, entering the final 10-minute zone of the contest.
Duel
An air-tight duel ensued that resulted to four deadlocks, the last at 107-all. Sausa broke the standoff with two free throws and later Sta. Maria hit a basket to make it 111-107 for Inter-Alumni.
The closest Inter-Club could come was at 112-114 as Abais and Sta. Maria went 4-of-4 from the foul line, before Sausa punctuated a 6-0 run in the dying seconds. James Lloyd Noel topped Inter-Club with 20 points, even as four others cashed in twin digits.
Edmund Odulio, Jr. had 16 markers, Seno added 14 followed by Alfred Lim and Esteban Cesar Ortega with 24 points combined.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 2, 2006 issue)
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