ILOILO City – Hua Siong College of Iloilo Red Phoenix moved closer to a title repeat in the 2019 ISSA Meet boys basketball. It posted a 90-70 win over St. Roberts International Academy Panda Rockets in Game 1 of the finals at the WIT Gym here.
Julian Maverick Puerto spearheaded the attack for the three-peat ISSA basketball champions Red Phoenix with 22 points on Wednesday while Dave Bagatnan, Cedrick Manzano and Reneil Gamboa had 14 markers each.
John Paolo Villariza also submitted double digit scoring of 12 points. Negrense Jessei James Beker added eight markers.
The Red Phoenix looks to wrap up to championship in Game 2 this afternoon.
It started flat in the series opener of the best-of-three finale. They surrendered the first five points of the game to Panda Rockets before responding with 10-0 blast to gain control.
The lead grew further to as high as 19 points for the Red Phoenix but the Panda Rockets answered with a rally to trim the deficit to seven.
Hua Siong quickly restored order to
widen the lead anew to 20 points.
Louie Villaroza finished with 15 points; Irele Galaz added 12 markers, while
Roy Oscar Jacinto and Renz Dinzon contributed 10 markers apiece for the losing
Panda Rockets./PN
