THE GAISANO Capital handed the suddenly listless Bayfront Hotel Cebu its first loss of the season with a resounding 68–55 beatdown in Division A of the PLDT SME Nation – Alfredo Gothong 21ST SHAABAA Cup Basketball Tournament on Wednesday night at the Ateneo de Cebu basketball courts along Mango Avenue.
Down 26–35 at the half, Gaisano Capital turned the game around in the third, where it uncorked a 17–5 run to take a 43–40 advantage.
Gaisano then buried Bayfront further with a 25–15 blitz to end the game on top and grab a share of the lead in the standings at 3–1 (win-loss), the same record as its victims and the Cebu Landmasters.
Arc Gabrielle Araw-Araw, a former Rookie of the Year award winner in the Cesafi juniors division, led the charge with 12 points while his younger brother Nino, Mavii Suarez, Arnie Padilla and Patrick Go combined for 34 markers.
In stark contrast, Bayfront’s usually explosive offense was nowhere to be found with top gun Elddie Cabahug failing to score a single point.
Elmer Mykiel Cabahug and Niel Benedicto tried to carry the scoring cudgels with 17 and 14 points, respectively, but it was not enough to rescue the squad from the jaws of defeat.
In the other Division A match, the Cebu Landmasters defeated Harley Davidson, 59–49.
In Division B, AutoLAB 99 remained in front of the pack with their fourth win in a row after blasting Chick@Phil 89, 55-34. The Choobi Bay Crab and Shrimp 91 also upended Ngohiong 94, 56–37, to keep in pace with the league-leaders at 3–1.
In Division C, Batch 2015 crushed Radar Tires 04, 37–19; Prince Warehouse 06 beat South Tiger Trucks and Heavy Equipment 05, 50–33. 2015 improved to 3–2 while Prince Warehouse evened their record up at 2–2.