Accenture, Aegis spank rivals in CSCC E-League

CEBU, Philippines - Archie Brian Vincent Batua outgunned Nino Belande in a torrid shootout, powering the Accenture Sharks to a 71-65 win over the Supportsave Dragons in the 10th CSCC E-League men's basketball tournament last Saturday at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym.

Batua exploded with 26 points spiked with seven 3-pointers, including four in the first quarter that led Accenture to an early 22-17 lead.

He later dropped three more treys in the third period that helped the Sharks enjoy a double-digit edge, 57-47, heading into the final 10 minute zone of the contest.

Belande tried to lift up the spirits of his teammates by scoring nine of his game-high 27 points in the final period but to no avail.

Batua, who also had nine rebounds and two steals, was backed up by Ryan Edward Llanos with 15 points for Accenture, which joined Lexmark Stallions at second place in Division 1 with identical 3-1 win-loss records.

Belande, who hauled 10 rebounds and four assists, got huge support from Edmon Paradiang and Allan Juezan with 27 points combined but their efforts went for naught as Supportsave suffered its second loss in five starts.

On the other hand, defending champion Aegis Vipers once again rode on a balanced offensive to whack the Job Target Bandits, 61-40, and keep its hold of the Division 1 leadership with a 4-1 win-loss card.

Ryan Veloso turned in 11 points, six rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocks in another all-around show for Aegis, which was never threatened after mounting a 35-18 advantage at halftime. Job Target fired back with a 20-10 blitz in the third canto, but Aegis held off the Bandits to only two points in the last quarter while scoring 16 to seal the 21-point romp.

Mark Matidios had 17 points, four rebounds and two blocks for the Bandits, who crashed to their third straight defeat.

In other games, the Wipro Tigers roared off to a 54-48 win over the Kyocera Frontiers, while the Calltek Trojans prevailed over the 24/7 Cagers, 37-34, in a battle of winless squads. Wipro, thus, improved its record to 4-1, while Kyocera fell to 1-2. Calltek snapped out of its three-game slump, while 24/7 slumped to its fourth consecutive loss. (FREEMAN)