THE Accenture Sharks took a huge bite out of the Sykes Pioneers, handing the defending champions their second loss in a row, 65-63, in the Elite Classic division of the City Sports Club-Cebu (CSCC) E-Leagues for Basketball at the CSCC basketball court on Saturday, October 5, 2019.
The win shoved the Sharks into the top spot of the standings at 8-1 (win-loss) while the Pioneers moved down to second place at 8-2.
Accenture pulled the wheels off of Sykes’ wagon in the third canto where they outscored their opponents, 20-11, to turn a 34-36 halftime deficit into a 54-47 lead. They then held off the Pioneers’ attempts at a comeback in the fourth canto to complete the stunning win.
Jeanne Perez led Accenture in scoring with 12 points while Junas Misa had 11 markers and four assists. The Sharks frontcourt of Aldene Batino and Sherwin Resilla also did a yeoman’s job inside the shaded lane, combining for 23 rebounds.
Janjan Auditor was the lone player to reach double-figures for Sykes with 28 points.
In other matches, the Teleperformance Vipers improved to 7-4 with a 69-65 win over the QBE Generals. Rahne Laborte did it all for the winning squad, piling up 27 points, five rebounds, four assists and five steals. King Sambrano and Mon Dico also helped out with 12 points each.
The Fusion BPO Dragons also moved up to fourth place in the standings after withstanding a huge endgame rally by the WiPro Tigers, 85-84. Justine Mier had 24 points, five rebounds and five steals, while Janille Bantilan, Roy Quiachon and Nino Belande all had 12 points apiece. Quiachon and Belande also ruled the boards with 11 and 12 rebounds, respectively, to push Fusion BPO to their sixth win in 10 games.
Meanwhile, in the lone Evo game, the Dyninno Jets defeated Shearwater, 74-63, to bring their record up to 5-4. King Olbes and Raymond Basanez scored 11 points apiece for the Jets. (SunStar Cebu)