BAGUIO College of Technology scored its fifth straight win to claim the solo leadership in the men's basketball of the 7th Cordillera Higher Education Sports Athletic Association (CHESAA) beating Easter College, 69-43, Sunday morning.
John Rey Fernandez fueled a 21-2 rally midway in the opening quarter from a 2-2 count seizing the lead for good and close the first quarter with a 23-4 advantage.
Fernandez also led the team with his 19 points, and proved to be a spark plug of the team every time he is inside the playing court. Dan Udoba added 11 points.
With all BCT starters resting in the second period, including Fernandez, Easter College made a big second quarter run, outscoring the Harrison based dribblers 16-13 to narrow BCT's lead by 16, 36-20, at the close of the second period.
It was the closest Easter College ever got in the ball game.
And with the BCT starters getting their fresh legs, the BCT Eagles then applied pressure on defense as they limited the EC Phoenix to only 10 points in the third period.
Vander Diaz and Fernandez teamed up in the frontcourt as they tore the game wide-open leading by as much as 27 midway in the third period before closing the quarter with a 53-30 edge.
BTC was able to steal the ball 15 times in the third quarter alone, which allowed the team's run-and-gun offense to keep the Phoenix at bay.
The Eagles then fired another 12-6 run midway in the pay-off canto for a 64-36 advantage with 5:16 left in the ball game.
Phoenixes then tried to lessen the Eagle's advantage as they tried to stage a run of their own limiting BCT to only seven points in the last five minute frame.
But the Easter dribblers also shot miserably converting only seven points in the entire stretch.
Easter College dropped to 3-2 after their Saturday's defeat.
Data Center meanwhile followed up its win against Easter College the last time drubbing Baguio School of Business and Technology, 90-82 for the team's fourth win against a defeat also in Sunday's CHESAA games.
Mark Murao topped Data Center anew with his 25 points while Kier Gonzaga also chipped in 15 points for the Spartans.
Also winning is National Institute of Information and Technology, beating Philippine Women's University, 95-80 for their its win in five starts while PWU remained winless after five games. (Roderick Osis)