THE CEBU Landmasters and the Bayfront Hotel Cebu got their title campaigns off to winning starts as they clobbered their respective opponents at the start of the PLDT SME Nation-Alfredo Gothong 21st Sacred Heart Ateneo Alumni Basketball Athletic Association (SHAABAA) Cup on Sunday at the Magis Eagles Arena in Canduman, Mandaue City.
The Landmasters relied on an explosive third period run to down Gaisano Capital, 76-64, in Division A. Five players reached double-figures in scoring for the winners led by Kyle Valmoria’s 18. Alexander Lim added 16, Moncrief Rogado had 12 while Justine Huang and Daryle Tan chipped in 11 apiece.
Gaisano Capital was actually ahead, 30-25, at halftime but that all changed in the third which saw the Landmasters outscore the former, 33-16, to grab the upper hand, 58-46, and eventually claim the victory.
Mavii Suarez had 16 to pace Gaisano.
In the other Division A match, defending champions Petron Bling Nation had an upset handed to them by the Bayfront Hotel Cebu, 69-54. Bayfront got off to a fast start, leading, 20-10, after the first 10 minutes of action and never looked back for the rest of the game.
The Cabahug brothers, Eldie and Elmer Mykiel, proved to be the biggest thorns in the side of Petron as the former tallied 22 while the latter added 13.
Meanwhile in Division B, AutoLAB Batch ‘99 routed the Choobi Bay Crab and Shrimp Batch ‘91, 71-49. Athletic forward Jeremy Huang and Kent Ong proved to be too much to handle as they scored 22 and 17, respectively, to lead AutoLAB to the dominant win.
The White Gold Club ‘96 edged Batch ’95, 58-56, behind the stellar performance of Junie Alejandro who scorched the nets for 27 markers. Batch ‘97 also blasted Batch ‘92, 41-17 while Dynamic Casting Batch ‘01 in the final Division B game of the day.