John-O parries Blades, boosts semis bid

Playmaker Celino Cruz drilled in eight of his 10 points in the final three minutes yesterday as John-O warded off LBC-Batangas, 79-67, and beefed up its semifinal hopes in the 2002 PBL Challenge Cup at the Pasig Sports Center.

The victory over the highly-fancied Blades improved John-O’s record to 4-4 and boosted the team’s hopes of nailing one of four slots in the upper half of the second phase of the eliminations.

The Blades fell to 4-3 and must now hurdle their match against Dazz on Thursday to join Welcoat (6-1) and Blu All-Purpose (5-1) in the upper half from which three of the semifinalists will come from.

The fourth and last slot in the semis will be disputed by the topnotcher from the lower half, composed of five teams, and the No. 4 squad from the upper bracket. In the second phase of the elims, the teams will face their groupmates once.

"We’re still in contention. We just have to wait for the outcome of the coming games if we’ll make it to the upper bracket or we’ll be relegated to the lower half," said John-O coach Dong Vergeire.

In the other game, Dazz Dishwashing Paste escaped with a 71-69 victory over Cheese Balls-Shark and enhanced its own hopes with its third win in six games. The Cheese Balls remained in the cellar with its 1-7 slate.

After trailing by as many as 16 points, 45-61, the Blades turned to Alvin Magpayo and Alex Compton for a 14-4 fourth-quarter assault that trimmed the deficit to 64-65, with only 2:57 remaining.

But John-O stepped up on its defense, allowing the Blades to a single basket, courtesy of Compton, the rest of the way.

Cruz, a former UAAP standout with the FEU Tamaraws, combined with Ricky Calimag in a 14-3 run that finally broke the backs of their opponents.

Ranidel Ocampo, younger brother of PBA player Yancy, led John-O with 20 points and eight rebounds while Mark Macapagal added 14 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Compton led the Blades with 16 points, four rebounds and eight assists while Nicole Uy backed him up with 14 markers. Magpayo, a promising power-forward, finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds.