By Adrian Stewart Co
MJAS Zenith-Talisay City Aquastars stayed alive in the Visayas leg finals of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Cup after a 63-56 beating of KCS Computer Specialist-Mandaue in Game 2 on Saturday at the Alcantara Civic Center in Cebu.
Darrell Shane Menina led the Aquastars offense with 15 points to go along with five rebounds, and five assists, while Paolo Hubalde chipped in 11 markers, six boards, four assists, and two steals.
Visayas leg MVP Jaymar Gimpayan added eight points, eight boards, and three steals, while Patrick Cabahug also had eight markers for Aquastars, which were defeated in Game 1 last Friday, 67-66.
The Aquastars seemed headed to another disaster in Game 2 as they failed to protect their early lead in the game and even went down 48-41 at the onset of the fourth quarter.
Talisay, which were undefeated the entire conference before bowing to Mandaue in Game 1, responded with a huge 16-2 scoring blast behind Gimpayan, Menina, Hubalde, Jhaymo Eguilos, and Egie Boy Mojica to take a 57-50 lead.
Mandaue, however, kept the match close as they trimmed the deficit to 59-56 with over a minute left but Talisay managed to increase it back to 61-56 on two free throws by Hubalde.
Mandaue had several shots to trim the deficit before Talisay sealed the victory on a basket by Menina with 14 seconds left.
“The boys showed heart, ayaw talaga nila magpatalo,” said Aquastars head coach Aldrin Morante. “Pinakita nila ‘yung character nila coming off a loss. We just have to focus mentally dahil ang goal talaga namin dito sa bubble is to win the championship.”
Chris Exciminiano paced Mandaue with 14 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and three steals while Rhaffy Octobre and Mendoza chipped in 11 markers each, the latter piling on 13 rebounds, seven assists, and a blocked shot.
Imperial, who drained the game-winning three-pointer in Game 1 last Friday, failed to duplicate his heroics in Game 2 as he was held to just four points on 1-of-7 shooting on the field.
BOX SCORE:
TALISAY 63 – Menina 15, Hubalde 11, Cabahug 8, Gimpayan 8, Mojica 7, Jamon 4, Acuna 3, Eguilos 3, Villafranca 2, Mabigat 2, Santos 0.
MANDAUE 56 – Exciminiano 14, Mendoza 11, Octobre 11, Nalos 4, Sorela 4, Imperial 4, Soliva 4, Cachuela 2, Bregondo 2, Tamsi 0, Roncal 0, Bonganciso 0, Delator 0, Mercader 0.
Quarterscores: 15-4, 24-23, 41-41, 63-56./ASC, WDJ