More teams got their feet wet as the action in the 2016 BPO Classics continued on Sunday at two separate venues.
In the Recreational Division held at the STI Academic Center in Quezon City, Sitel got the best of Transcom, 70-59, on a furious fourth quarter rally
A crippling 18-6 run in the the last five minutes carried Sitel to the victory despite getting outworked inside the paint, 32-18.
Melchor Zapanta and Mark Odoemene took turns in taking the fight out of Transcom, turning a one-point deficit to an 11-point opening win.
Zapanta and Odeomene had 21 and 16 points, respectively, for Sitel, whose other team in the same division also won in the opening day.
John Dela Fuente poured 14 points and six rebounds for Transcom while Eleseo Londres and Aaron Caringal added 10 each.
Wint and Kidd, meanwhile, overpowered Converga Asia in a low-scoring affair, 54-27, also in the Recreational Division.
Running the floor and dominating the paint, Wint and Kidd broke the game wide open in the second half and left no room for Converga to operate.
Paul Villarin registered 13 points and 10 rebounds while Arvin Humarang added 11 points and four boards for Wint and Kidd.
No one from Converga’s 15-man side wound up in double digits despite hanging tough in the first two periods. Chris Conde and Jay Arambulo had 7 each.
In contrast, Eximius leaned on a last second freethrow to scrape past Sourcefit, 48-47.
After losing an eight-point lead midway the fourth, Eximius salvage the win on Aris Aquino’s freebie off a technical foul on Sourcefit’s coach.
It was a fitting end to a steady performance from Aquino, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead Eximius.
Ehraim Pajayon and Junie Pineda combined for 25 points for Sourcefit, which trailed for most of the second half but failed to complete the comeback.
In the Intermediate tournament, Startek and Center Functions opened their campaigns with resounding victories.
Startek threw its weight in the paint and routed Sykes, 66-50.
Nestor Quitan who led all scorers with 21 points that went with a 14-rebound effort off the bench as Startek outscored Sykes downlow, 52-18.
Richard Morales and Harun Umal had 10 points apiece for Startek in a losing cause.
Center Functions, meanwhile, was in control from the get go en route to the 75-56 win over Sitel.
A three-pointer from Nino Shappit pushed the lead to the biggest of the game, 66-43, as Accenture waxed hot from the three-point land with eight.
Shappit scored 13 and added five assists while Ren Manzon paced Accenture with 17 points and five rebounds.
In the lone Recreational Plus game at the EJG Gym, Sykes turned back SBO, 82-67, after a third quarter breakaway.
Sykes’ starting unit did the dirty work with Nino Dulay exploding for 26 points and Alfredo Fulay and Vherik Bonwel chipping in 14 markers each.
Joash Guinto’s 25-point, 11-rebound effort went down the drain as SBO just didn’t have enough firepower to match Sykes.
