CEC-A/ACY Shipping/Koi Herbal and CEC-B/PTT/Roadstar boosted their bid for a twice-to-beat incentive in the playoffs after they hacked out separate wins last Saturday in the Cebu Eastern College Alumni Basketball Association (Cecaba) 15th Dr. Chen Lieh Fu Memorial Cup at the CEC Gym.
CEC-A survived CEC-D/Dimsum Frito, 69-67, while CEC-B had less trouble disposing of Batch 1988/Dewfoam, 80-60.
Juan Carlo was razor sharp in leading CEC-A to its fifth win in seven battles after he fired a game-high 26 points. Raymark Ong added 16 markers, while Gino Abella contributed 12 markers.
Improving to 5-4 was CEC-B, which had five players scoring in double figures.
Kenneth Ang fired 16 markers to top CEC-B, Dreyfuss Ang scored 12, Ken Uy and Rex Allinson wound up with 11 markers each, and Rogelio Donayre Jr. chipped in 10 points.
The contrasting wins gave CEC-A and CEC-B a chance to finish in the top four.
The top four teams after the eliminations will have a twice-to-beat bonus against their lower-ranked foes in the quarters.
Tommy Yu finished with 22 points, John Quilacio tallied 15, while Gwynn Uy collected 14 markers and 10 rebounds for CEC-D, which slipped to 4-5 (win-loss).
Erwin Yu and Gregorio Aguilar fired 17 points each, while Rey Kenneth Ng had 15 for Batch ‘88 (3-5).