BACOLOD City – Talisay Sharks and Bacolod Tay Tung High School Thunderbolts emerged as champions in the United Negros Basketball League 2nd Chairman’s Cup held recently at the Luis T. Ong Sports Pavillon at SJI Ayala Northpoint here.
The Ryan Hugnatan-mentored Sharks took home the 15-and-under championship through an 83-68 domination of Team Kenn behind tournament MVP Paul Barcelona who produced 29 points.
The Sharks held a 28-16 opening quarter lead behind the exploits of Barcelona, Jerry Binguan and Ace Cortejo. Team Kenn answered with its own rally in the second frame as they cut the deficit to 36-42 at the half.
The Sharks, however, got a huge lift from Barcelona in the third frame as he unloaded 18 points for a 67-50 lead. Team Kenn tried to rally back in the fourth but Binguan, Cortejo and Tony Orbista came up with hits to seal the crown for Talisay.
Cortejo backed up Barcelona on offense with 25 markers, while Orbista and Binguan contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Sharks. Thirdy Docto tallied 32 points for the losing Team Kenn.
The Renato Callora-mentored Thunderbolts, meanwhile, clinched the 17-and-Under category championship after scoring a 57-48 victory over University of St. La Salle-Bacolod in the one-day finale.
Vince Hugo spearheaded the offense with 13 points to be named as the Player of the Game, while tournament MVP winner Adrian Alagaban added 11 markers for the Thunderbolts.
The Thunderbolts opened the contest with eight straight points but USLS responded with a run for a 10-all count. Bacolod Tay Tung got their offense going in the second quarter as they built a 30-22 halftime lead.
USLS were aggressive to start the third quarter as they rallied to within 46-51 but Bacolod Tay Tung managed to pull away in the fourth quarter as they stretched the lead to double digits.
Rojie Enderes spearheaded the Michael Lim-mentored USLS with 15 points, Josiah Asis contributed 10 markers, while Kian James Ramos and Emmanuel Salvio combined for eight points./PN
