CEBU, Philippines — The MJAS Zenith-Talisay City Aquastars got off to an ice-cold start but unleashed a fierce offensive assault in the final half to sink the Tubigon Bohol Mariners, 97-65, and stay unbeaten in the double round 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.
MJAS-Talisay was off the mark in the early goings and trailed by as much as 11 points, 24-35, in the second quarter althrough they trimmed it down to only to three at halftime, 38-41.
The came the Aquastars’ brutal counter-attack.
Val Acuña and Jaymar Gimpayan incited a 11-0 blitz at the start of the third canto that suddenly put MJAS-Talisay on top for good, 48-41. Patrick Jan Cabahug, Egie Boy Mojica, Shane Menina, and Kevin Villafranca then joined the scoring binge as the Aquastars upped their lead to 66-47 entering the final 10 minutes of play.
Overall, the Aquastars outpointed the Mariners by a mile in the second half, 59-24, resulting into a 32-point blowout.
Acuña dropped four 3-pointers of his 14 points, Cabahug had three troples of 13 markers,
while Gimpayan chipped in 13 points, seven rebounds, and two blocks as the Aquastars stretched their perfect record to 6-0.
Slotman Jhaymo Eguilos banged in 11 points, six boards, and two blocks while Villafranca, a power forward from the University of San Jose-Recoletos, produced nine points, nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals for MJAS-Talisay, which tries to make it seven wins in a row as it battles the Tabogon Voyagers at 3 p.m. today. — EBV