DUMANJUG rallied from a 20-point ravine, before enduring a pressure-packed final quarter to beat Alegria at its home 90-87 to clinch the 7th District title of the Cebu Governor’s Cup 2019 Inter-Cities/Municipalities Basketball Tournament title held at the jampacked Alegria Sports Complex.
Also clinching their respective District titles were Danao City and Medellin. Danao City survived the end game push of Sogod for an 82-78 victory at the Danao City Civic Center for the 5th District diadem while Medellin needed extra five minutes before beating Tabuelan 80-78 in Medellin Sports Complex for the 4th District crown.
Tonight, Argao Archangels will try to give its hometown crowd the 2nd District title when they host Siempre Samboan at the Sec. Cerge Remonde Sports and Cultural Center in Argao starting at 7PM.
Dumanjug displayed defensive gems and hard work as its way to neutralize the athleticism and height advantage of the home team to erase a 22-42 in the final 3 minutes of the first half before its offense went clicking again.
The visiting squad was hitting their marks early, scoring seven straight points to jump to a 7-0 start before Cris Ryan Garcia spark the offensive explosion of the home team which dropped a 16-0 counter to set the tempo of the next frame.
Alegria then went to outscore Dumanjug 25-11 for the next seven minutes and 30 seconds of the second period to log its biggest lead of the game. But the visiting team made a quick adjustment and went to close the first half on a 12-0 blast to move within 34-42.
Without Alegria’s “big 3” Cris Ryan and his brother Christian Jay Garcia and Rojan Montemayor sitting near towards the end of the second period, Dumanjug went on a scoring spree making important stops to outscore the home team 15-4 capped, which was by a triple from Jade Canete to take the lead 49-46, 5:43 remaining in the game.
Two more baskets enabled Dumanjug to equal its biggest lead at 7-points and grabbed a tight hold on the lead by finding answers to what the home squad threw their way. The biggest one was the steal in the final 2.9 seconds of the game that foiled the attempt of Alegria to send the game to overtime.
Clester Jun Quinanola top-scored Dumanjug with 17 points, nine were made in the final period that helped the team survive the end game push of the home team. Canete added 16, JM Casag chipped in 12 and 10 points were contributed by Janrell Degolacion as Dumanjug carted away the P100, 000 cash prize for the District champion.
While Cris Ryan Garcia scored the game-high 27 points, John Dave Lendio finished with 16, Jamil Mahinay chipped in 12 and Christian Jay Garcia and Patrick Devila made 11 points each as Alegria settled for the P50,000 runner-up award.
Dumanjug, Alegria, Medellin, Tabuelan, Danao City and Sogod joined Talisay City, Minglanilla, Argao, Samboan, Tuburan and Balamban into the quarterfinal round. Only the 6th District qualifier is left to be determined as its elimination round is yet to end on Sunday.
Boxscores:
Dumanjug (90) – Quinanola 17, Canete 16, Casag 12, Degolacion 10, Villarojo 8, Avila 8, Capones 6, Mojado 6, Dingcong 5, Noel 2. Alegria (87) – CR Garcia 27, JD Lendio 16, Mahinay 12, CJ Garcia 11, Devila 11, Montemayor 7, Ramos 3. Quarterscores: 11-17; 34-42; 63-59; 90-87.
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