The Bukidnon Cowboys got off to a hot start and sustained it until the final buzzer to pull off a 70-59 upset victory over the Sealcor Cagayan de Oro Kingfishers on Friday in the Pilipinas Super League 21-Under VisMin Leg at the Lawaan 1 gym in Talisay City.
Ivo Salarda had 12 points and eight rebounds to lead the Cowboys’ balanced attack on both ends of the floor. Laven Uy also had a stellar all-around performance as he notched eight points, 12 rebounds, three steals, three blocks, and two assists as Bukidnon moved to 3-1, good for solo second place.
The Cowboys got off to an 8-0 start and just kept on going, extending it to a high of 14, 39-25, after a three-pointer by Dwyn Dacutanan. The Sealfishers rallied and momentarily snatched the lead at 53-52.
But Bukidnon kept their wits about them, responding with an 11-0 run anchored on buckets from Salarda, Dacutanan, and Raul Gentallan to take a 63-53 lead.
Bling Murillo canned back-to-back triples to pull Cagayan de Oro to within four but Bukidnon’s defense kept steady the rest of the way, holding the Kingfishers scoreless for over three minutes to pick up the victory.
Meanwhile, the Davao Occidental Dreamers clobbered the Sherilin-Unisol Mandaue Plastic Men, 83-72, to gain a share of first place in the standings beside Cagayan de Oro. The Dreamers and the Kingfishers have identical 4-1 records.
Davao Occidental found their groove early and led by as much as 19, 53-34, early in the third. However, the Plastic Men persevered and pulled to within three, 69-72, after a triple by Christopher Isabelo and a short stab by Daryl Guerrero with 4:31 to go in the game.
But Christial Malano and Jude Bagay had the answers, scoring crucial points down the stretch to push Davao Occidental to the win.
Bagay had a massive double-double of 16 points and 16 rebounds, while Malano had 14.
The Plastic Men got 14 from Isabelo. However, it wasn’t enough to keep the team from dropping to 2-3.