ALCANTARA — Shane Menina lit it up, giving MJAS Zenith-Talisay City the spark it needed to pull off an 81-73 victory over KCS Computer Specialist-Mandaue to stay unbeaten in eight games in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup, Saturday at the Civic Center here in Cebu.
Menina, a former standout of the University of Cebu, scored 25 of his 28 points in the second half. He gave Talisay City the jolt of energy that it needed when it fell behind 40-47 at the 4:57 mark of the third canto.
Menina canned two straight triples, a layup and then, issued an assist to Jaymar Gimpayan to shove the Aquastars in front, 50-47. The Aquastars finished the third with an 18-2 run to head to the last canto in front by nine, 58-49.
“Kilala naman nating lahat si Shane, puputok at puputok ‘yan. It was only a matter of time,” said Aquastars head coach Aldrin Morante as Menina was only averaging 4.6 points prior to this game.
Mandaue tried to rally and pulled to within five, 57-62, after a triple by reserve guard Steve Castro. However, Menina’s scorching hot shooting proved too much for KCS as the 6-foot guard continued his scoring binge, tallying 10 of Talisay City’s next 12 points to push them up by 15, 74-59, with just 3:39 remaining in the ballgame.
Aside from making all but one of his 12 attempts as he went 5-of-6 from distance, Menina also had two rebounds, two assists, and four steals in just 21 minutes of action.
Gimpayan also had a huge impact on the win for Talisay as he finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
The game was unlike the first time these two teams tangoed back on April 13 that saw MJAS rout KCS, 77-57.
“This is a character-building win which is good for us heading sa last stretch ng tournament natin,” added Morante.
The backcourt combo of Shaq Imperial and Gileant Delator paced Mandaue with 18 and 12 points, respectively.
However, the absence of aces Joseph Nalos, Al Francis Tamsi, Ping Exciminiano, and Bernie Bregondo proved disastrous for KCS, which dropped to 5-2.
MJAS-Talisay returns to the hardcourt on Tuesday when it faces Dumaguete (1-5) at 7 PM. KCS-Mandaue, on the other hand, looks to bounce back earlier in the day when it takes on Tabogon (3-5) at 3 PM.
The Scores:
MJAS-Talisay (81)—Menina 28, Gimpayan 19, Mojica 6, Villafranca 6, Hubalde 5, Eguilos 4, Casajeros 4, Acuña 3, Santos 2, Cabahug 2, Jamon 2, Mabigat 0, Cuyos 0, Dela Cerna 0.
KCS-Mandaue (73)—Imperial 18, Delator 12, Octobre 9, Mendoza 8, Bongaciso 7, Mercader 5, Roncal 4, Solera 4, Castro 3, Cachuela 3, Soliva 0.
Quarterscores: 17-17, 36-39, 58-49, 81-73.
