Kendrick Abarquez had a double-double performance of 10 points and 13 rebounds in Talisay City’s Game 1 win over Mandaue in the Governor’s Cup Finals. | contributed photo
Cebu City, Philippines—The Talisay City Aquastars are just a win away from repeating as champions in the 2019 Governor’s Cup basketball tournament after they slipped past the gritty Mandaue City, 81-76, in Game 1 on Friday, May 3, 2019, at the packed Talisay City Sports Complex.
Jay Deiparine, back in harness after missing the semis because of a suspension, led the way for Talisay with 19 points while Clark Ruedas added 16. Keaton Taburnal and Kendrick Abarquez added 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Talisay City will try to finish Mandaue off in Game 2 on Wednesday.
Mandaue will be welcoming back star forward Kenneth Brillo in that game. Brillo served a one game suspension in Game 1.
In spite of Brillo’s absence, the Ballers did not back down and even led, 46-34, at halftime behind the scorching shotmaking of guard Gabriel Cometa and Archie Buscay.
However, the Aquastars steadily made their way back into the game as they followed the lead of Ruedas and Deiparine, who presided over a 25-18 third period to cut the deficit to just five, 59-64.
Talisay tightened the screws on defense and clamped down on the tired Ballers to grab the lead and seal the victory with a layup by Taburnal with 20 seconds left that gave the Aquastars an 81-75 lead.
Mandaue City had several chances to come closer but missed a number of attempts from the charity stripe.
Cometa led Mandaue with 22 points but ran out of steam down the stretch. /bmjo