The Inquirer-Cebu Daily News (CDN) Siloys forced a winner-take-all match for the title after pulling off an 85-74 win over the multi-titled GMA 7 Kapuso in Game 2 of the 2015 Newsmen Basketball Association of Cebu (NBAC) best-of-three finals at the Cebu Eastern College (CEC) Gym yesterday.
The Siloys, playing on an eight-man rotation, took off to a hot start and built leads of as many as 21 points in the first half then thwarted repeated rallies by the Kapuso to hold on to the victory.
Jonas Panerio spearheaded the Siloys’ win, sinking seven triples in the first half alone that sparked the strong start for Inquirer-CDN. He finished with a game-high 31 points while Johnny Tabuco added 22 after scoring 40 in the Siloys’ 87-91 loss in Game 1. Edouard Illut chipped in 14 for the winning team.
Veteran Jun Solon top-scored for the erstwhile unbeaten Kapuso with 25 points. GMA 7, which was also missing key players, suffered its first loss of the season.
The Kapuso were without Gabriel Bonjoc, who led the team with 29 points in last week’s win over the Siloys. They also played minus Julius Vidal, who had 12 in Game 1.
Still, the Kapuso weren’t short on scorers as Mark Hortelano backed Solon up with 19 points and Godfrey Rellin added 12. The deciding Game 3 is set for next Sunday at the same venue.