Rene Pacquiao of Cebu Landmasters-Bogo City goes up against two USJ-R-May Abohan defenders in the first game of the Cebu City Sinulog Cup on Wednesday at the Cebu Coliseum.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON
Cebu Landmasters-Bogo City pounces on exhausted USJ-R- May Abohan in Sinulog Cup
Games today:
(Cebu Coliseum)
4:30 p.m. – USJ-R vs. UV
6 p.m. – Marinerong Pilipino vs. UC
Taking advantage of a tired foe, the Cebu Landmasters-Bogo City stayed unbeaten and scored a 79-63 victory against the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R)-May Abohan at the Cebu City Sinulog Cup Basketball Invitational yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
Prince Orizu, a former Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraw, led the Landmasters with a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds as the Bogo City inched closer to a finals berth after improving to 3-0 (win-loss).
Reigning Cesafi MVP Jaybie Mantilla and JJ Calang were the only double digit scorers for the Jaguars with 23 and 15 points, respectively.
USJ-R dropped to 1-1.
In the second game, the University of Cebu (UC)-M. Lhuillier beat the University of the Visayas (UV)-SG-ARQ Builders, 79-74.
UC notched its first win in the tournament while UV, the reigning Cesafi champion, remained winless.
Landmasters head coach Junthy Valenzuela said his team had a slight advantage since he felt they were playing against an exhausted Jaguars team that was coming off a close 84-83 victory against PBA D-League team Marinerong Pilipino on Tuesday night.
“We took advantage through our running game. They were tired. Today they were exhausted,” the former University of San Carlos coach said.
The Landmasters slowly built their lead until it reached as high as 23 in the third before settling for a 64-46 lead entering the payoff canto.
Unlike its previous games, though, Bogo City wouldn’t allow its opponents to come close and eventually cruised to an easy win.
Ferdinand Lusdoc added 15 markers and with five boards while former USC Warrior William McAloney chipped in 13 and 10 for the Landmasters.
The Landmasters take a day off today, and Valenzuela said that they’re going to make use of the rest day to prepare for their next game against Marinerong Pilipino tomorrow.
“Hopefully by Friday, we could pick our game up right away [and be able] to execute especially on defense,” he said.