Minglanilla tops quotient, punches ticket to the next round

INAUGURAL champions Minglanilla Archangels scored an emphatic 101-57 victory to render Sibonga Pillars winless at the end of the elimination round campaigns of the First District in the Cebu Governor’s Cup 2019 Inter-Cities/Municipalities Basketball Tournament  in San Fernando Municipal Gym.

The win enabled Minglanilla to catch up with Naga City Electrifiers and Carcar City Lechoneros for a three-way logjam after finishing the elimination round with 3-2 win-loss cards each, for the second place after defending champions Talisay City Aquastars handed the home team San Fernando Spartans the exit ticket following a 74-63 win in the night cap.

The Archangels hit a snag when they lost back-to-back games, including an 81-76 loss to the Lechoneros last March 16 in Naga City. But they bounced back harder and proved to have the heart of a champion, by winning their last two games, inclusive of a 92-83 win over the Electrifiers at home to improve their chances to tab a ticket to the next round.

The triple tie was resolved by the FIBA Olympic Quotient System and Minglanilla topped the computation with 1.036 followed by Naga City with 1.032 and Carcar City at the bottom with 0.93, to earn a shot for the P100,000 District champion’s prize against Talisay City. Unfortunately for Naga and Carcar, only the top two teams could earn additional prize, their seed money going to the tougher competitions ahead.

Carcar however, earned a rare distinction being the only team to mar Talisay City’s erstwhile immaculate record that started in 2018 Season.

Argao on the other hand needed a clutch triple from Jimboy Torion to douse cold water to the fiery end game run of Santander Kangaroos to punch a ticket to the next round after an 80-69 win over at the Sec. Cerge Remonde Sports and Cultural Center in Argao.

Lanky center Leandro Manloloyo, who is fresh from an NBTC National Championships stint in Manila, displayed additional facets of his game and scored the game high 25 points for Argao, which also had 13 points each from Torion, Jomari Parantar and Darren Dayag while Teotimo Omania Jr. topscored with 23 points and Benito Luzano contributed 16 points for Santander.

In the opening game, Boljoon won its first game after beating the undermanned Oslob Whale Sharks, 100-80.

Oslob which played without its two high scoring guards, Renzo Abines and Jake Cabigon, was trailing by as much 26-points, 92-66, before yielding the game to Boljoon via 20-point margin.

Kenjie Gumera had a breakout game in leading Boljoon to victory after scoring 25 points. Jay Caneda added 16, Lyster Trapero made 15, Jecyrile Vallarta had 14 and Willjoy Serinina finished with 13 for Boljoon while Emmanuel Tongcos topscored for Oslob with 22 points, Joe Serna contributed 15, Daniel Rollon made 13 points before he was tossed out of the game and Christian Fajardo tallied 10 points.

In the other games, Balamban formally joined the next round following a 111-87 win over Barili, Medellin defeated Madridejos 107-94, and Tabuelan trounced San Remegio 94-65 and Tabogon won by default against Santa Fe in Tabogon Municipal gym.