MJAS-Talisay Aquastars book outright finals ticket

CEBU, Philippines —  The rampaging MJAS Zenith-Talisay City Aquastars pummeled the ARQ Builders Lapu-Lapu City Heroes , 99-62, to claim an outright finals berth in the Visayas leg of the inaugural Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas Vismin Super Cup season yesterday at the Alcantara Civic Center in Alcantara town southwest of Cebu.

Cebuano “Assassin” Patrick Cabahug knocked in five triples of his 22 points as the Aquastars completed a 10-0 sweep in the double round robin elimination to earn an automatic spot in the best-of-three Visayas leg finals starting on May 6.

 “Malaking bagay sa amin na makuha namin yung sweep para makapahinga kami,” said Aquastars head coach Aldrin Morante. “Siguro masasabi ko lang is all of this is because of the players. They deserve to rest.”

With MJAS-Talisay already in the championship stage, the rest of the field would have to play in a stepladder format to determine who will book the other finals ticket.

In this format, the No.2 qualifier would advance to the semifinals where they will enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage. Teams No.3 and No.6 as well as the No. 4 and No.5 will figure in knockout matches where the winners would take on each other for the right to face on the second seed in the semis.

Cabahug, who emerged as player of the game for the fourth time, waxed hot from the get-go, tossing in nine points in the first quarter to vault the Aquastars to a commanding 24-9 lead. They neved looked back from thereon.

The best ARQ Lapu-Lapu could muster was to pull within 12 points as the MJAS-Talisay further clobbered the Heroes in the final period, 30-11, to come up with an eye-popping 37-point blowout punctuated by Jaymar Gimpayan’s two consecutive slam dunks.

Aside from Cabahug, three other MJAS-Talisay players submitted twin figures. Kevin Villafranca posted 12 markers, explosive floor leader Darrell Menina came off the bench to tally 11 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals, while big man Allan Santos nearly had a double-double with 10 points and nine boards.

Team captain Paulo Hubalde scored only six but still made a difference with seven rebounds and a spectacular 13 assists..

The Heroes, who hot poorly from the field making only four of their 22 attempts from beyond the arc, was led by Ferdinand Lusdoc with 12 points. Jojo Tangkay and Chris Regero registered 10 markers apiece but to no avail as ARQ Lapu-Lapu dropped to 4-5.

Rendell Senining, who returned from a six-game suspension, had four points and four assists in 20 minutes of action for the Heroes, who will end their elimination campaign against the Tubigon-Bohol Mariners at 7 p.m today.