THE Globalport-MisOr handed Basilan BRT its fifth-straight defeat, after defeating the Peace Riders, 68-65, to take sole leadership of the top spot in the standings in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Mindanao Challenge on Dec. 3 at the Pagadian City Gymnasium.
A couple of split charities from JC Luciano and Nikko Panganiban gave the Peace Riders a two-point lead, 63-61, with 3:39 left in the game. However, Reil Cervantes and Cebuano guard Joseph Nalos retaliated with five straight points via a triple and a layup, respectively, to give the Valientes the driver’s seat, 66-63.
Luciano then made another basket on the other end with 2:15 to go but that would be Basilan’s last made field goal of the game to give MisOr the victory in its fourth game in four days.
“My players are already tired, playing for the fourth-straight day but I encouraged them to just push more, to the limit,” said Valientes head coach Vis Valencia.
MisOr rose to the top alone at 6-3 while the Peace Riders’ downfall continued, slipping to 3-5, tied with Pagadian for fifth.
Former Far Eastern University Tamaraws guard Joel Lee Yu led the Valientes anew with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting while Cervantes chipped in 12 points.
Jason Ballesteros tallied six blocks alongside four points and 14 rebounds to earn the Chooks-to-Go Manok ng Bayan player of the game honors together with Lee Yu.
Panganiban had 14 points and five rebounds for the Peace Riders, while Med Salim got 12 points.
Darwin Lunor scored double digits for the first time this conference with 12 points to go with three rebounds.