Cortes leads Mandaue City to 6th District title

By Rommel C. Manlosa

GARY Cortes brought his winning ways at the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) to the Cebu Governor’s Cup 2019 Inter-Cities/Municipalities Basketball Tournament when he guided the Mandaue City Ballers to the 6^th District title following an 83-68 win over the Consolacion Sarok Weavers at the Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex.

The fiery Cortes showed the young Mandaue City players how it felt to win a championship, something that the Ballers could get used to as they plunge deeper to the tournament.

“The job is not yet done. It’s still a long way to go. But at least this is a championship. Something that they could get to use to. The challenge now is getting tougher. Our opponents now are all qualifiers, Champions or runner-ups from their respective districts. Tonight we celebrate, tomorrow back to work,” Cortes told iNews.Ph.

Mandaue City’s first assignment in the quarterfinal round is the Edsel Vallena-mentored 5^th District champions Danao City. This game is the first of the future encounters between Cortes and Vallena, who will now coach the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats.

The Quarterfinals will officially start on Wednesday with games hosted in Dumanjug and Tuburan. The Mandaue City-Danao City game is the opening match of a triple header schedule in Dumanjug.

The most productive player of the game was the incoming UV Green Lancers freshman Gab Cometa who scored the game-high 33 points. Cometa’s productions include 13 in the second quarter to help Mandaue City establish momentum. He also added six points in the third period as Mandaue logged its biggest lead of the game at 50-26 and eight made in the fourth to help the eventual champions repulse the late game rally of Consolacion.

Mandaue City started the game on an 8-0 blast but Consolacion rallied and eventually wrested the lead 13-12 on Rouelo Robles triple at the start of the second quarter. However, it was short-lived as Mandaue City countered with a 23-6 blitz to build a double-digit lead all-throughout the game.

Brevin Kieth Padayogdog tried to push the Sarok Weavers as he scored 16 of his team-high 26 points as the visiting team came within 58-67 still with 4:06 left to play. However, the ejection of its starting point guard John Paulo Dalumpines for acquiring his second unsportsmanlike foul one minute later, proved to be the break that Mandaue City needed as they scored a telling 8-0 run to tow the host team away from danger.

Archie Buscay added 12 points and Art Marco who made 11 was the other Mandaue City players to score in double-digit while no other player except for Padayogdog scored beyond nine points for the Paul Alelu Flores-coached Consolacion.

Except for the Mandaue City-Danao City match at 4:30PM, the Jose S. Macoy Memorial Sports Complex in Dumanjug will also host the 4^th District champion Medellin vs. the 2^nd District runner-up Samboan at 6PM and the host team and the 7^th District champions Dumanjug plays the 3^rd District runner-up ASB Balamban at 7:30PM.,

While the Sarok Weavers will play the 5^th District runner-up Sogod at 4:30PM,1^st District runner-up Minglanilla Archangels and 4^th District runner-up Tabuelan battles at 6PM and 3^rd District champion Tuburan hosts 7^th District runner-up Alegria at 7PM.

Boxscores:

Mandaue City (83) – Cometa 33, Buscado 12, Marco 11, Sungahid 9, Brillo 8, Dabon 4, Ylanan 2, Cabellon 2, Apas 2. Consolacion (68) – Padayogdog 26, Bathan 9, Osabel 9, J. Maglasang 6, Dalumpines 5, Dayday 4, J. Manatad 4, Robles 3, Jugan 2.

Quarterscores: 12-10; 39-22; 57-38; 83-68.