| Bacolod City, Philippines | Thursday, February 2, 2006 |
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Summit drubs Po's
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Veteran Ireneo Morales showed he still had enough juice to grind it out with young players, leading Krua Thai-Ice Monster to a come-from-behind 88-87 squeaker over favorite Probac Monday night in the 6th Tan Kek Pin Cup Memorial Basketball Tournament at the Po Hang Gym of Bacolod Tay Tung High School. Morales, a former varsity standout and now coach of the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos Rams, delivered 18 points, including Krua Thai's last 5 and capped his heroics by hitting a lay-up in a backdoor play with Godoy Cepriano for an 87-84 cushion with 50 seconds left. It was Krua Thai's second win in as many games, sharing the Bracket B lead with Magnolia at 2-0. Meanwhile, Jessimar Gabihan and Marc Lo scored 21 and 20 points, respectively as Summit-AMG Pawnshop trounced Panasonic-Po's Mktg., 98-91. Summit and Panasonic now have identical 1-1 records. Probac came out strong in the first half, taking a 58-35 lead at the break with Bobby Agsam scoring 10 points but Morales and Cepriano spearheaded the Krua Thai comeback in the third quarter by scoring 8 points apiece to trim the gap, 76-57, heading into the final period. Krua Thai took away Probac's run-and-gun attack in the fourth, playing a more deliberate game and employed man-to-man defense. KT-Ice Monster outscored Probac, 31-11, in the fourth quarter. Mars Echarri jumpstarted the fightback, making a pay-up to tie the game at 83 and Ireneo Morales hit a corner jumper to give the lead to KT for the first time, 85-83. Agsam, who finished with 13 points, made a buzzer-beating triple from half-court to peg the final count. Cepriano and Christian Escote chipped in 14 points apiece, while Echarri and Nene Sibaya added 9 and 8, respectively. Probac also drew 11 points from Romar Desusa and teammate Yen Dolar had 10. Kirk Tupas also scored 8 for Probac. Salvador Bonza and Ben Ong made 10 points apiece to help Summit's win even as Arvin Gustilo contributed 8. Bobby Cepeda led Po's with 19 with Jeff Wee and Oliver Manaloto adding 16 and 9, respectively. *CPT |
