Saturday, March 17, 2007 Arthro nails 2nd cage title
THE Arthro Kontra Arthritis-Atan Guardo squad is fast becoming one of Cebu City’s formidable cage team as they inked another championship title during the Mayor Rodrigo Duterte-Araw Ng Davao Open basketball tournament, Wednesday at the Davao City Recreation Center.
It was Arthro-Atan Guardo’s second straight title since pulling off an 84-83 stunner over M. Lhullier to top the Visayas swing of the Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) pre-season games last Feb. 23 at the Cebu Coliseum.
With the feat, the team of Cebu City South District Congressional aspirant Jonathan Guardo has slowly established itself as a fast emerging basketball power in the region, even posing a threat to the vast cage empire built by the mighty M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala Jewelers.
The victory of the Cebuanos came at the expense of host Duterte Agilas, 76-63, in their sudden-death final duel.
“I’m very ecstatic. I have complete trust in the leadership of coach Al Solis. When we started to build up this team last year, we felt we have to invest in our core players. We believe that having good players and good coaching are the key ingredients to winning. “I’m happy to see that our efforts paid off earlier than we expected,” said Guardo.
“So far it’s very encouraging. We’re going to participate in more tournaments this year and hopefully we will continue to up a good rivalry with M. Lhuillier or any other teams in the region,” added Guardo.
After a lukewarm showing in their past three games, sharp-shooting guard Alex Cainglet came out of the freezer brimming with confidence to spearhead Arthro-Atan Guardo’s assault with a game-high 23 points.
Cainglet’s early explosion powered Arthro-Atan Guardo to a 43-34 advantage at halftime— a lead the Cebuano visitors never had to relinquish until the final buzzer.
Josh Manty, a 6-foot-10 American missionary from the Ventures for Victory, was the only other double-digit scorer with 10.
In four games, Arthro lost only once at the hands of Montaña Jewels, 82-84, before advancing into the final with a 88-64 demolition of M. Lhuillier. (JSV)
