Friday, July 07, 2006
Juicers lead anew in Socsksargen games
GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Del Rio Resort and Mindanao Medical Center's Medex tied at 4-2 win-loss when they ended Tuesday evening their elimination campaign in the ongoing Socsksargen Basketball League (SBL) even as the Dole Juicers regained leadership at 4-1 with one more game to go.
The Koronadal City-based DPWH-Del Rio Resort under coach Renato "Boy" Guadalupe dumped the win-less Sarangani Migs, 85-68, in their first game assignment Tuesday (July 4) at the Oval Plaza covered court here.
The encounter also produced another record for the highwaymen as small forward Julius Sabijon sunk 29 points including a three-by-three to join with Sarangani Mig's Anthony Timon and Tampakan Copper's Joven Almacin in the league's highest individual score standing.
Sabijon's elder brother Jigger who plays small forward aided with 12, while 6'1" center Rico Ramos converted another 11 for the trio to bag almost two-third of the team's total harvest.
The Sarangani Migs continued its sluggish performance save for Jack Mamalumpong, Anthony Timon, Renato Lape and Jamil Alih who registered 20, 18, 13 and 11 markers apiece to sequester all scores except for six.
The banana growers, under Coach Eddie Tingson, trailed all the way from the beginning of the game, 12-20, 25-42, 46-65, 68-85.
Meanwhile, the Dole Juicers under the tutelage of coach Jun Allera made a strong comeback Tuesday night when it routed close rival Medex, 99-88, after a poor performance Sunday at Tampakan, South Cotabato.
Michael Etrata made his best performance in the league so far when he played cool and jolly even as he connected a total of 23 points - the highest of the Juicers in Game 17 - and committed just a double offense.
The presence of heavy center Gabriel Maloloy-on, who was conspicuously absent during Sunday's encounter with DPWH-Del Rio Resort, also helped the Juicers with 17, all made just within the shaded lanes except for one from the charity line.
Reliable as ever, Rugie Cyril Sulla and Danilo Baldosano shared with 16 and 12, respectively, to keep the Juicers ahead most of the time starting 2:45 minutes into the second canto.
The Medex led the first quarter until 2:21 minutes of the second when the Juicers' Alrene Palma fired a two to erect the first deadlock at 28-all, followed by 36-all before the hospital squad reclaimed the lead at 38-36 some 2:48 minutes remaining of the second.
Engaging in a real seesaw game, the Juicers, with all its deployed 11 cagers scoring, immediately took back the lead and never looked back again. It closed the first half in their favor 47-41 as well as the third canto 67-62, despite relentless efforts and physical attacks by the Medex that resulted however to the early retirement of Jay Forones, Emmanuel Aquino and Jonas Garces in the fourth.
Small forward Dave Sagad, who always played good assist, produced the highest 18 for the Medex. Continuing their savory deeds the past outings, the small-but-terrible point guard Jimboy Bartolome and agile power forward Arniel Roda combined 31 points to compensate the low-scoring-than-average performance of Jonas Garces and Aquino who just managed nine apiece.
Sporting a 4-1 win-loss card, the Juicers is expected to throw all weapons in the arsenal to neutralize the Rebels in their penultimate battle at 5:30 p.m. Saturday tentatively at the Oval Plaza covered court here.
The Juicers' must avoid a probable triple tie with the DPWH-Del Rio Resort and the Medex or a four-way tie with said squads and the Rebels, depending on the outcome of the latter's engagement with the Tampakan Copper on Thursday (July 6).
For its part, the Rebels with its 3-1 standing would exert all efforts to thwart the offenses and overthrow the defenses of both the Tampakan Copper that gained confidence after defeating the Medex Sunday and the Juicers that dominated the landscape from day one.
In the event of triple or quadruple tie, the SBL Inaugural Conference management would resort to quotient system to determine the top three teams that would automatically enter the best-of-three semi-final.
The fourth placer would join with the Tampakan Copper, Royals and Sarangani Migs in a single round-robin wildcard quarter final phase that would commence Tuesday next week at the Oval Plaza.
How they scored:
1st Game
DPWH-Del Rio Resort: Julius Sabijon 29, Jigger Sabijon 12, Ramos 11, Silorio 7, Tabale 7, Lerog 4, Nulla 4, Penetrante 3, Guadalupe 2, Alvarez 2, Cobrador 2, and Yap 2.
Sarangani Migs: Mamalumpong 20, Timon 18, Lape 13, Alih 11, Sarcauga 5, Pagay 1, Badong 0, Polistico 0, Pordios 0, De Leon 0, Talisay 0, and Tingson 0.
2nd Game
Dole Juicers - 20-47-67-99: M. Etrata 23, Maloloy-on 17, Sulla 16, Baldosano 12, Nacorda 8, Mantile 7, Palma 6, Gabilagon 4, Duran 3, Francisco 2, and Bascones 1.
Medex - 26-41-62-88: Sagad 18, Bartolome 16, Roda 15, Aquino 9, Garces 9, Forones 6, Benigay 6, Alon 6, Halili 3, Asis 0, and Gregorio 0 (Press release)
(July 7, 2006 issue)
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