Cabahug, Fernandez co-players of week

Bacchus Energy Drink’s Patrick Cabahug and Harbour Centre’s Benedict Fernandez were named co-players of the week in the final week before the PBL PG Flex Linoleum Cup takes a holiday break.

Cabahug, a shooter out of basketball crazy Cebu, drilled in half of his 12 attempts to finish with 18 points and power the Energy Warriors to an emphatic 78-63 victory over the Toyota Otis Sparks Saturday and seal a quarterfinal berth with a 5-5 card.

Fernandez, a sophomore out of Far Eastern University, exploded with a personal-best 20 points as the six-peat seeking Batang Pier walloped the Sparks four days earlier to remain atop the heap with an 8-1 (win-loss) slate.

The pair of sparkling efforts gained for Cabahug and Fernandez their first weekly honors awarded by a group of sportswriters from the country’s broadsheets and tabloids.

“He is really capable of playing like that,” said Bacchus coach Lawrence Chongson, referring to the prolific Cabahug. “But more than his ability to score, he gave us stability – especially for our younger players.”

Cabahug used as motivation a recent decision of Toyota Otis, a team he played for a couple of years now, to trade him for Jose Rizal standout guard Mac Cagoco. With Bacchus, he has been hitting the shots when they mattered most.

Down by a double digit at the start of the third quarter, Cabahug rifled in three booming triples in a three-minute stretch late in the period to give Bacchus a fourth quarter cushion and the momentum to snatch the win.

For Fernandez, he found a way to shine for a club – owned by an amateur basketball and cycling godfather – that thrives on team play.

The ex-Tam actually unloaded 14 points in the middle quarters to tow the Batang Pier to victory.

Cabahug became the second Bacchus player to win the PBL POW award after Paul Lee, a rookie sensation out of the University of the East, did the trick last week. – Joey Villar