ILOILO City – Uniwheels completed its coronation in the Open Category of the 2022 Mayor Jerry P. Treñas New Normal Basketball tournament on Thursday night here.
Uniwheels swept their best-of-three championship series with an 86-78 Game 2 victory over DPWH/Iloilo Executives at the Western Institute of Technology Gym.
Raffy Arguelles, a former standout of Hercor College Junior Jaguars, played a solid game since the start. He ended up with 21 markers for Uniwheels.
Crisencio Loyola chipped in 18 markers, while Jesan dela Cruz also hit double figures on offense with 12 markers for Uniwheels, which also won Game 1 on Tuesday, 83-64.
Unlike in the series opener, Uniwheels was engaged in a much tighter exchange in Game 2 but was able to did just enough to stave off the gritty challenge from DPWH.
John Lester Samones, the Most Valuable Player winner during the previous JPT basketball season, spearheaded the offense of DPWH in their defeat with 26 points.
Peter Gim Traviña, meanwhile, contributed 12 markers, while former Central Philippine University Golden Lions mainstay Miguel Sasuman was held to 10 markers in the loss.
Uniwheels entered the championship round following an 86-65 victory over the Elite Lab, while DPWH/Iloilo Executives ousted TEJ Buillders, 109-65, in a separate Final Four game.
Tournament commissioner Von Fernandez said it was a welcome sight to successfully conduct a basketball tournament while the country is still under a coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
“We are just happy that we were to successfully conduct this tournament despite the COVID situation. We just hope to have more tournaments here in Iloilo,” Fernandez told Panay News./PN
