When all seemed lost, Lopue's Travel Center conjured one big play after another in the final six seconds to stun Gard Shampoo, 87-84, late Monday night in the 7th Tan Kek Pin Cup Memorial Basketball Tournament at the Po Hang Gym of Bacolod Tay Tung High School.

Valiant Bank, drawing clutch baskets from ex-San Agustin guard Johnson Salazar, subdued Tangub, 88-76, in the first game.

In an encounter that had all the trappings of a classic, Lopue's erased a four-point lead in a span of three seconds and sealed the win with a buzzer-beating triple by Antonio Rogacion, who nailed the shot from the top of the key after Gard's Robbie Jalando-on had spilled the ball into the sideline in the inbound play.

Rogacion had pulled his team to within two points after nailing a close-range stab and getting a foul on Michael Rosales with six seconds left but he squandered the free throw.

Andy Angudong, however, was there to follow up the miss to tie the game with three seconds left, before Jalandoo-on turned the ball over, paving the way for Rogacion to play hero one more time.

Down 75-70 midway in the fourth period, Gard mounted a mini-rally and took the initiative at 79-78 on Marc Lo's free throws. The Shampoomakers looked to have taken the fight out of Lopues, after Lo split his charities for an 84-80 lead with 15.6 seconds left.

Angodung finished 17 points, while Rogacion added 10. Vanzant Brizuela chipped in 12, the same output with Mark Binguan, who scored all his points from three-point range.

Te Espejo was the fifth Lopue's player in double figures with 10 points, while third quarter hero Jan Jan Young added 9, all from three-point distance in the third quarter.

Richie Militante, who played college ball at the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, and Rosales made 16 apiece for Gard, which will next face Valiant on Friday.

TBA was able to keep pace with Valiant in the opening three quarters, trailing, 62-66, heading into the last period before Salazar triggered a run that allowed his squad to pull away.

Salazar had 13 points with Carlo De La Torre, Mark Descutido, Ryan Hugnatan and Richard Verayo also scoring in double figures. *CPT

back to top

Lopue's stuns Gard; Valiant posts 1st win
Final inspection for Prisaa venues today
ICCHS to miss reg'l tilt