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Valiant Bank finished its Tan Kek Pin Cup campaign the same way
it started it --- with an emphatic victory.
Banking on stellar performances from Ryan Hugnatan and Bobby
Cepeda, Valiant drubbed Davies Paint Probac, 101-86, Sunday to complete
a sweep of the three-game finals at the Po Hang Gym.
Cepeda came away with a team-high 17 points but it was his
solid defensive effort on Most Valuable Player Ryan Concha that
proved to be the difference in the fourth period as Valiant followed
up its 93-92 win in Game 1 Friday.
Hugnatan touched off a rally bridging the third and fourth
quarters, hitting a triple at the buzzer that gave Valiant a 66-65
lead heading into the last period
. It all came together from there as Cepeda capped an 8-0
run with a triple early in the fourth, before teammates Warren Alintano
and Richard Verayo hit their stride.
Davies, the only team that defeated Valiant in this tournament,
threatened at 90-83 with barely three minutes left on Concha's triple.
But that proved to be their last stand as Alintano scattered 8 of
his 15 points, including an acrobatic lay-up, near the end to finish
off Probac.
Verayo bullied his way to 10 points, while Mong Deriada and
Joel Lim chipped in 8 points each as Valiant hardly felt the absence
of top gunner Johnson Salazar.
Concha, who received his MVP trophy at halftime, registered
17 points, below his 29-point output in Game 1.
Ariston Sillana had 16 points for Davies, which also drew
26 points from Eric Uy, Mark Sabusap and Kirk Tupas.
Probac, however, failed to get enough offense from Peewee
Demonteverde when the chips were down.
"Our defense won it for us. We knew the key was containing
Concha and Demonteverde and I think we were able to do it in this
game," Valiant's neophyte coach Rodel Canino said.
Canino steered the Ian Pama-owned quintet to nine straight victories,
starting with an 88-76 win over Tangub on Jan. 22, before falling
to Probac in the round-robin semifinals. But Valiant bounced back,
clinching a place in the finals by beating eventual third placer
Province of Negros Occidental, while Probac dethroned BBC. *CPT
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