Edrian Lao of the Cebu Sharks talks to a game official during a matchup with Valenzuela. photo from MPBL page
Cebu City, Philippines—The Cebu Sharks-Casino Ethyl Alcohol squandered an early 13-point lead and lost to the Valenzuela Classic, 69-66, in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Lakan Cup on Thursday, July 11, 2019, at the Blue Eagle Gym inside the Ateneo de Manila University campus in Quezon City.
The Sharks got off to a fast start and led, 19-8, after the first.
However, it was all downhill from that point onwards as the Classic bashed them, 12-29, in the second to fall behind, 31-37.
Cebu tried to make a comeback in the fourth but could not get their long-range shots to fall in the dying seconds to drop 2-3 (win-loss).
Valenzuela on the other hand, improved to 4-1.
Down by three, 66-69, with 34 seconds remaining, the Sharks gained possession after forcing the Classic’s Jayson Varilla into committing a travelling violation with an aggressive double-team. Cebu however, could not take advantage as Patrick Cabahug missed two tries from beyond the arc.
Valenzuela gathered the rebound but Hans Thiele could not seal the victory as he missed two free-throws with five ticks left. Sharks’ big man Rhaffy Octobre gathered the rebound and brought it up the floor before passing it to William McAloney whose three-point try fell well short as time expired.
Octobre nearly had a triple-double with 18 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists to lead Cebu while McAloney was equally impressive with 12 points and 14 boards.
Cabahug — Cebu’s top gunner — was the missing link as he mustered just four points on 2-of-11 shooting. /bmjo
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