Sinulog cup: Landmasters/Bogo nips USJ-R to stay unbeaten

CEBU, Philippines — After struggling to close out their two previous opponents, Cebu Landmasters/Bogo finally scored a relatively easy win, beating University of San Jose Recoletos/May Abohan, 79-63, in the Cebu City Sinulog Cup 2018-Basketball Invitational at the Cebu Coliseum last night.

The Landmasters, who led 41-30 at halftime, broke the game wide open in the third quarter going with 16-4 run for a 57-34 lead. The combination of veterans John Abad, Ferdinand Lusdoc and import Prince Orizu took charge in the run against a USJR/May Abohan side which couldn’t bring out the A-game that they played in their upset over Marinerong Pilipino Tuesday night. After collapsing momentarily in the fourth quarter of their first two games, the Landmasters finally protected their lead, this time banking on Lusdoc, William McAloney and John Reel Saycon to seal the win. Orizu, who dominated with 16 points including a slam dunk putback on top of 10 rebounds, said that it was total team effort that gave them their win. “We have a lot of good veterans and young players, and we’re playing better together as a team now,” he said. The Landmasters got excellent production form their veterans with Lusdoc recording 15 points six rebounds and four assists. McAloney also had a double double of 13 points and ten boards. Tangkay had nine points five rebounds, seven assists and four steals in an all-around game. CESAFI 2017 MVP Jaybie Mantilla led USJR/May Abohan (1-1) with 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. JJ Calang added 15 points, all on triples. The veteran trio of Bogs Llanto, Mark Abadia and Roger Yap were only good for a combined seven points. The Landmasters will go for a sweep against Marinerong Pilipino tomorrow to barge into the finals of this six-day / five team tournament.

In a late game Tuesday night, USJR/May Abohan stunned Marinerong Pilipino, 84-83, on a perfectly executed alley-oop inbound play from Mark Abadia to Miguel Gastador with 0.4 of a second left on the clock. Two-time CESAFI MVP Enirco “Bogs” Llanto showed that he still has it by leading the team with 22 points and five rebounds. Jaybie Mantilla added 20 points while ex-pro Roger Yap provided veteran leadership through his eight points, six rebounds and four assists. Billy Robles led Marinerong Pilipino with 15 points while Kyle Toth and Alvin Pasaol had ten points apiece. (FREEMAN)