A PAIR of upsets rocked the Tanduay Athletics E-Leagues for Basketball as the Fluor Pandas tripped the league-leading Contact Solutions Lemurs while the QBE Generals edged the Dreamscape Lions in the games at the City Sports Club-Cebu on Saturday, November 16, 2019.
The Pandas defeated the Lemurs, 68-61, in the Evo League to bolster their record to 9-5 (win-loss) and put a stop to the latter’s six-game winning streak and hand them their second loss of the tournament.
Fluor took over in the second period where they outscored Contact Solutions, 24-10, to build a 34-24 lead at halftime. Although the Lemurs tried to rally, the Pandas had an answer for each one to come away with the victory. George Anciano led Fluor with 15 points, Rommel Tagacanao added 14 while Ryan Miano and Daven Canonigo chipped in 13 and 12 markers, respectively, to help the Pandas snatch the huge win.
Over in the Elite Classic division, the Generals stunned the Lions, 74-73, thanks to the heroics of Stuart Foot who canned a triple with just 10 seconds to give QBE the lead for good.
Foot’s triple was but the cherry on top of his sweet performance that saw him get a steal off of Dreamscape’s inbound play with just 18 seconds to go in the game, get fouled and then, sink two free-throws to cut the Lions’ lead to just one, paving the way for his game-winning three-pointer.
Marcus Jungoy led QBE with 18 points, Johnrey Girasol had 16 and 10 rebounds while Foot put up 14 to improve their record to 4-10 and pull Dreamscape down to 7-8.
Meanwhile, the Accenture Sharks kept their hold of the top spot with a 60-52 win over the Teleperformance Vipers. It was a balanced effort for Accenture as 13 of the 15 players they fielded in managed to score at least two points. However, it was Aldene Batino that proved to be the top guy for the Sharks as he had nine points, 13 rebounds and four rebounds as they upped their record to 13-1.
The reigning champs, Sykes Pioneers, continued to handle their business even without star forward Janjan Auditor, who continues to recover from an injured groin, as they nipped the Fusion BPO Dragons, 82-81. Former Cesafi standouts Bryan Divinagracia, Marl Laguna and Victor Rabat also had stellar games, producing 18, 15 and 12 points, respectively to help Sykes go up to 12-3.
And finally, the WiPro Tigers kept the EPerformax Reds winless this season with a 99-76 thumping.