MANILA – MJAS Zenith-Talisay City Aquastars stayed alive in the Visayas leg finals of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super 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 spearheaded the 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’s Most Valuable Player Jaymar Gimpayan added eight points, eight boards and three steals. Patrick Cabahug contributed eight markers for the Aquastars, which were crushed in Friday’s Game 1, 67-66.
The Aquastars seemed headed to another disaster in Game 2 when they failed to protect their early lead and even went down to 48-41 at the onset of the fourth quarter.
Talisay – undefeated the entire conference before bowing to Mandaue – responded with a huge 16-2 scoring blast behind Gimpayan, Menina, Hubalde, Jhaymo Eguilos, and Egie Boy Mojica to seize a 57-50 advantage.
Mandaue, however, kept the match close to trim the deficit to 59-56 with over a minute left, but Talisay managed to increase it back to 61-56 on Hubalde’s two free throws.
Mandaue had several shots to cut the deficit, but Shaquille Imperial and Gryann Mendoza missed their three-point attempts. Talisay sealed the victory on Menina’s basket with over 14 seconds left.
“The boys showed heart, ayaw talaga nila magpatalo. Pinakita nila ‘yung character nila coming off a loss…dahil ang goal talaga namin dito sa bubble is to win the championship,” said Aquastars head coach Aldrin Morante.
Chris Exciminiano paced Mandaue with 14 points, while Rhaffy Octobre and Mendoza had 11 markers each, the latter piling on 13 rebounds, seven assists, and a blocked shot.
Imperial, who drained the game-winning three-pointer on 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 – Menina 15, Hubalde 11, Cabahug 8, Gimpayan 8, Mojica 7, Jamon 4, Acuna 3, Eguilos 3, Villafranca 2, Mabigat 2, Santos 0.
MANDAUE – 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./PN
