Back-to-back championships for Visminda

This time there was no late-game collapse for Visminda-Country House, as the pennant champions leaned on Ed Cosino’s veteran leadership in the homestretch to beat archrival SIP-Verizion, 99-91, and annex the championship of the 2004 UFO-San Miguel Cup Saturday night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Cosino scored all of his 6 points inside the last four minutes of the ballgame to tow Visminda to the hard-earned victory.

Barely getting his feet wet on the floor, Cosino scored on an uncontested basket making it 88-84 with 3:32 left in the ballgame.

With his 6’2” bulk clogging the lane, Cosino forced SIP to shoot from the outside with limited success and a towering basket by Jawn Joyner on a setup by Banjo Basila gave Visminda a half-dozen lead, 90-84, time down to 2:53.

Some 30 seconds later Cosino would once again ring the bell, getting away inside for a nifty lay-in that gave them a 92-84 cushion that all but hushed the SIP bleecher.

Although, SIP would draw closer at 94-88 on two free throws by James Villacrusis, Cosino would seal the deal by swooshing his own gift shots from the 15-foot line to make it 96-88 with just 1:06 ticks left in the game clock.

SIP would miss five of six attempts from the land of last resort in the final minute and Basila would make two more foul shots to end the scoring and deliver the championship to the Country House-backed squad.

Despite the best efforts of Basila and ageless wonder Dado Vistal, Visminda were on the shorter end of the deal in the first half and trailed SIP 26-25 in opening quarter. SIP then closed the second quarter with a 7-0 run to pad their lead to 54-46 at the break.

But a more determined Visminda team emerged from halftime with a resolve to beat SIP in their own physical brand of play/

Joyner, who was named finals MVP after the game, led the charge swooping for several acrobatic shots against SIP’s thinning frontline.

Even new recruits Chris Domingo and Jon Artates found ways to contribute with the latter’s floating jump shot from six feet out responsible for giving Visminda a 75-73 edge after three quarters of play.

SIP quickly retook the lead with a 3-pointer from Game 1 hero Jason Amado, 10 seconds into the payoff quarter. The three-time titlists even stretched that advantage to 82-78 on a jumper by Amado at the 7:46 mark of the period.

But Visminda were simply gathering momentum for the final push, and after Joyner cut loose for an easy layup on an assist by Bing Marasigan to make it 86-84, SIP was forced to play catch up the rest of the way.

Vistal and Joyner led all scorers with 23 points apiece. Both players also worked overtime under the boards with Vistal hauling down 11 and Basila 10. Joyner was good for 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 shotblocks.

Amado paced the losing finalists with 21 points. Villacrusis and power forward Leo Factor added 17 each, while Jester Garcia and Edsel Mendoza scored 12 and 11 points, respectively. Playing-coach Rick Alegre was held down to 6 points but had 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and 4 steals.

It was the second straight United Filipino Organization title for Visminda and it came at the expense of a team that won championships in the first three years of the league. It was also the fourth UFO title for coach Boy Garcia, who mentored SIP to their first two.

In Game 1 Visminda lost a six-point lead in the final minute and change of the ballgame and bowed to SIP in overtime 106-99. It was the team’s first loss in the 2004 season.

Visminda 98 – Vistal 23, Basila 23, Joyner 15, Marasigan 10, Domingo 9, Artates 6, Cosino 6, Bicera 4.
SIP 91 – Amado 21, Villacrusis 17, Factor 17, Garcia 12, Mendoza 11, Alegre 6, Mendiola 4, Tamondong 3.
Scoring by quarters: 25-26, 46-54, 75-73, 98-91.