MANILA, Philippines — A pair of thrilling matches highlighted the Intermediate Division of the 2016 BPO Classics over the weekend.
Accenture, who owns the top spot in the seven-team field, was made to sweat by the upset-minded Sitel but held on to an 80-76 victory last Saturday at EJG Lucky gym.
With four players scoring in double digits, Accenture broke away with under three minutes left for a safe 13-point cushion, 75-62, that helped them fend off Sitel, which still came to a close to three with 11 ticks to go.
Larry Paa finished with 15 points to lead Accenture, James Laxinto and Christian Rodriguez added 14 points and combined for 15 rebounds while John Sarmiento had 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
It had been the theme of the game for both sides with Accenture racing to an early lead, 14-4, and Sitel taking over before the halftime buzzer.
Accenture restored order in the third quarter on a basket by John Alfrick Cruz, 46-45, and never relinquished the lead again despite scoring bursts from Sitel en route for a 5-1 record.
Sitel, which dropped to 1-4 good for sixth place, used its advantage downlow to rattle Accenture, scoring 54 points off the point.
James Senase led Sitel with 14 points, Charles Villanueva added 13 points, King Lao 12, while Dan Briones wound up with nine markers and whopping 15 boards.
Meanwhile, EXL survived XVI, 76-74, on a clutch shot by Raniel Patrick Belen last Sunday to claim solo third with a 4-2 card.
The go-ahead trey off an assist from Anthony Cagaoan with seven seconds left capped a tremendous performance for Belen, who finished with 35 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Keith Manalo added 19 points for EXL, which trailed XVI closely for most of the fourth quarter.
XVI, which used up all its 14 players led by Dave Jeciel who had 21 points and Harry Reyes who had 16, dropped to 3-3 behind EXL.
In the lone Competitive Division game of the weekend, Wells Fargo solidified its hold of the top spot with a heart-pumping 69-67 win over Xerox.
Splits from the stripe Ronjay Orendain and Alberto Rodil kept Wells Fargo afloat in the final 31 seconds of the see-saw payoff period.
Reyel Herrera topscored for Wells Fargo, which improved to 5-1, with 22 points while Orendain added 13.
Martin Natividad topscored for Xerox with 25 points but missed on a chance to win the game for his team after turning the ball over and bungling a two attempts in the final 24 ticks.
Xerox remained in second place but now game behind Wells Fargo with a 3-2 card.
