PAGADIAN, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR—Kapatagan stretched its winning run to three games after toppling Globalport-MisOr, 65-63, in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Mindanao Challenge, Sunday at the Pagadian City Gymnasium here.
Down by 11 early in the fourth frame, the Valientes went on a blistering 13-0 blast, capped by Nicole Ubalde’s layup. They regained the lead, 61-59 with 3:26 to go.
But Richard Kwong retaliated with a personal 5-2 burst, including a 3-of-4 clip from the line. That seized the lead back to the Buffalos, 64-63, with 17.7 seconds remaining.
In the ensuing play, Reil Cervantes threw a triple but did not fall in.
Edrian Lao got the rebound and was fouled. He split his charities giving MisOr one more chance to tie or win the game with a three-ball.
Cervantes took a trey from the same spot he missed a while ago, flunking it as well. Kapatagan then secured the rebound for the victory.
“Composure lang ang kinailangan namin. Kailangan lang namin gawin ‘yung plays namin at makinig lang sa instructions naming coaches,” said Buffalos head coach Jaime Rivera.
Kapatagan had a balanced offense, with no players scoring double figures. Eight cagers scored at least five points, led by KD Ariar’s nine points to go with six rebounds.
Lao finished with seven points and 11 rebounds, while Garexx Puerto, Mark Daanoy, and Jonel Bonganciso each tallied eight points.
The streaking Buffalos forged a three-way logjam for the second spot with the Valientes and Zamboanga Sibugay. The trio have identical 3-2 win-loss slates.
Joel Lee Yu and Cervantes led the Valientes with 12 points. The latter, though, went a measly 5-of-15 from the field.
Mac Baracael got just four points as he registered a poor 2-of-11 shooting.
The Buffalos aim for four consecutive tomorrow when they dance with Pagadian at 4:00 PM. Meanwhile, MisOr returns on Tuesday against Roxas at 4:00 PM as well.
The Scores:
Kapatagan 65 – Ariar 9, Bonganciso 8, Puerto 8, Daanoy 8, Lao 7, Rodriguez 6, Saga 5, Kwong 5, Torres 4, Igot 3, Sollano 2, Bersabal 0.
MisOr 63 – Cervantes 12, Lee Yu 12, Ubalde 8, Estrella 7, Nalos 6, Baracael 4, Ballesteros 4, salcedo 4, Meca 2, Caranguian 2, Gonzales 2, Bernardo 0.
Quarterscores: 23-18, 37-28, 53-46, 65-63.
