THE first game of the best-of-three championship series of the Reinforced Partners Cup became a match between a team against an individual as Bibbo Hotdog-University of San Jose Recoletos sneaked past the Junmar Fajardo-led Aspac Bank-University of Cebu, 109-101, Tuesday night at the Cebu Coliseum.
The USJ-R defenders were helpless as they could not stop Fajardo, who undeniably became the bright spot in Aspac Bank as he paced the team to a high-scoring first period, taking Aspac to a 39-16 lead.
However, Fajardo failed to sustain a one-man show all game long and could not hoist the team alone against a solid USJ-R team.
Things took a different turn in the second period after UC slackened on its defense, allowing USJ-R to break the game wide open as they blasted off with a 37-10 rally to take the lead for good.
Aspac Bank, however, was not ready to give up as they initiated a furious third quarter rally behind Fajardo, who scored 18 points in this juncture alone, Allain Abellanosa and Kane Abatayo to level the game again at 75 at the opening of the final canto.
A frustrated Fajardo lost his cool and was called for a technical foul, which ruined his momentum. He eventually fouled out of the game with still over three minutes to play.
Twisting the knife on Aspac Bank were the sharpshooters of USJ-R who rained shots from the three-point lane with eight triples in this period alone.
Luther Justiniani fired three successive three-pointers, followed by another one by Jabe Delfino all in a span of 50 seconds. That sealed the deal as USJ-R took the series lead, 1-0.
Justiniani led the USJ-R scorers with 24, while Lyndon Gudez had 20. Jabe Delfino and Jan Malinao were the other double-digit scorers for USJ-R.
Fajardo still continues to be the leading scorer finishing with another high-scoring game with 37 as Abellanosa added 18 for the losing team. Game 2 for both teams will be tomorrow still at the Cebu Coliseum. (MCB)
