Tuesday, January 08, 2008 Bibbo wallops Aspac in Partners Cup
COMING to the match well-prepared earned rewards for Bibbo Hotdog-University of San Jose Recoletos as it pulled off an emphatic 112-100 victory over Aspac Bank-University of Cebu in the Reinforced Partners Cup Sunday night at the Cebu Coliseum.
What was supposed to be a tense match between the undefeated rivals turned into a one-way affair as Bibbo-USJ-R dominated the game all throughout and never gave Aspac-UC a chance for a taste of the lead.
USJ-R came to the match prepared as coach Edito Salacot made sure his top gunners Manny Gabas and Luther Justiniani were present. The two have not been very active in the Partners Cup but had made their menacing presence felt last Sunday.
USJ-R’s win placed them atop the standing with an unblemished record and it will join the second round of eliminations with a 4-0 record. Aspac is second with 3-1.
Early lead
Bibbo’s victory was settled as early as the first few minutes as it sailed to a 25-8 lead. They bloated the gap in the second quarter to 63-47 behind the gallant efforts of Justiniani and Jan Malinao.
There were no significant changes in the second half as Jessmar Villahermosa and Armand Ponce took turns at scoring to bury the Webmasters further by 27 points, the biggest in the game, 92-65.
Jun Fajardo initiated Aspac-UC’s comeback in the fourth period as he scored 12 points in this period to pull UC closer, 85-99.
However, with just Fajardo doing all the dirty work, it was not enough to fix the damage that had been done by the Aspac squad.
Justiniani topscored for USJ-R with 23 points, while Hatague and Ponce had 12 each.
It was the losing team’s behemoth center Fajardo who had the game-high 27.
Meanwhile, the second round of the competition will start today in Inayawan.
Bibbo will once more flaunt its wares when it takes on Unilab/Alaxan-Don Bosco Greywolves. Aspac also hopes to bounce back from its recent debacle when it takes on Metro Gaisano-Cebu Institute of Technology Wildcats. (MCB)
