Boljoon outlasts gritty seven-man Sibonga in Cabaron cage wars

CEBU, Philippines — Boljoon subdued an undermanned but determined Sibonga, 90-75, in the resumption of the Mayor Inocentes Cabaron Invitational Inter-Town Basketball Tournament over the weekend at the Moalboal covered court.

Boljoon, which lost its debut to Barili, 73-89, and needed a last-gasp buzzer-beater over Badian, 82-80, is now 2-1 in Group B behind Dalaguete (3-0) and Samboan (2-0).

Dalaguete got the hold of solo lead in the group after back-to-back wins against Sibonga, 95-86, and Barili, 72-65.

Against the short-handed Sibonga which played with only seven players, the Boljoonanons seemed to cruise to an easy victory as they took a 12-point advatage, 24-12, after the first 10 minutes of play.

However, Sibonga turned to Ehman Janson Suarez in the second quarter, outscoring Boljoon, 34-20, to take a narrow 46-44 lead at halftime.

Suarez, who dropped 25 points in a losing effort against Dalaguete on April 6, was firing from all cylinders in the second period where he tallied an impressive 19 points, including two 3-pointers.

Boljoon, however, regained its offensive bearing in the third frame behind the one-two combo of Kenjie Gumera and Epoy Caneda to restore a double-digit edge, 69-59.

Caneda topscored for Boljoon with 26 points while Gumera unloaded nine of his 15 markers in the pivotal stretch.

On the other hand, Suarez exploded for 31 points while Ledesma added 13 but their efforts went down the drain for the gutsy Sibonga.

In Group A, Dumanjug got its third straight win the easy way after Malabuyoc failed to show up for their game on April 6. Aloguinsan is second at 2-1, while Badian and Ronda have similar 1-2 records. — (FREEMAN)