Goto Pilipinas breezed past its foe while Tsek Repablik, Eastside and Caron had to hang tough down the stretch in the Intermediate Division of the Next5Hoops Metro Manila Central tournament.
Goto Pilipinas ripped Don Papa, 112-64, while Tsek Repablik thumped Vanguards, 101-89 last October 23 at the Asia Pacific College in Makati.
Not lacking in firepower especially in the paint, Goto Pilipinas led by as many as 52 points with all 14 players contributing in scoring.
Arnel Ibarrientos (15 points, 8 rebounds), Mark De Ocampo (14 points), Jan Morillo (13 points), Total Gonzales and Ashley Cruz (12 points each) led the way for Goto Pilipinas.
Surprising at it may seem, Goto Pilipinas did not actually enjoy a wire-to-wire finish as it trailed by eight, 13-5, early in the game.
But the 18-0 run in a span of just four minutes fire up Goto Pilipinas, scored 40 off of Don Papa’s 25 TOs and had 72 points downlow.
Jezreel Gojit and Frankie Talaboc combined for 33 points for Don Papa.
Tsek Repablik, meanwhile, came back from 14 points down and gained a safe distance in the fourth period to fend off the undermanned Vanguards.
Despite gaining the lead in the third quarter, Tsek Repablik struggled to pull away until Edson Arison gave them a double-digit lead for the first time, 93-83, with 3:59 to play.
Danny De Ocampo paced Tsek Repablik with 21 points and 17 boards while June Crespo added 19 points.
Vanguards played without substitutions with only five players present, but gave a good account of themselves by not letting Tsek Repablik turn it into a total blowout.
Yvan Ludovice and Mark De Guzman had 28 and 24 points, respectively for Vanguards, which even held 33-19 lead near the end of the first period.
Caron escaped West Rembo, 66-65, on a clutch basket as the Intermediate Division action continued.
Kervin Lucenta topped his game-best 24 points for Caron by burying the putback for the win with 0.4 seconds remaining.
Lucente also had 15 rebounds to ignite an 18-4 finishing kick for Caron that erased a 61-48 deficit with a little under five minutes play.
Despite turning Caron’s 25 miscues into a 21-6 advantage in points off turnovers, West Rembo couldn’t close out.
Mark Soriano and Lord Del Rosario churned out 16 and 10 points, respectively, for West Rembo and had five rebounds each.
Eastside also nipped Priminent Builders, 92-89, after back-to-back buckets in the final 30 seconds of the game.
Al Baltazar gave Eastside back the lead before Junril Opsima, who led all scorers with 23, pushed the lead to three with 0.2 seconds left.
Priminent Builders tried to send the game into overtime but Pipoy Hempisao’s attempt didn’t connect.
It was an amazing comeback by Eastside from 11 points in the last six minutes of the game, thanks to Edwin Salamat who scored all his 7 points in the fourth quarter alone.
Marwin Montejo finished with 20 points off the bench for Priminent Builders.
