CUC, Star Water enter Elite 8

Star Water’s Melvin Gallardo, center, drives against GPPC’s Aba Tagle, left, and Gary Norial during the fourth quarter of their playoff game in the JEM/Mobil caging last Monday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Another higher seeded team has fallen as Star Water defeated GPPC, 79-64, in the final game in the first round of the playoffs in the JEM Company Ltd./Mobil Customer Appreciation Basketball League last Monday night at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium.

Star Water, which was ranked 10th heading into the playoffs, took early control of the game and then pulled away late in the fourth to eliminate the seventh-seeded GPPC. With the victory, Star Water gained the last seat to the Elite 8 and will face No. 2 seed Mariana Resort in the quarterfinals. GPPC, on the other hand, followed two higher seed teams—No. 5 Top Development, Inc. and No. 3 Coca-Cola /Subway—to the exit door. Also done for this season were No. 15 Triple J, No. 16 Konstrak Builders, No. 13 Docomo Pacific, No. 11 Westco, and D&Q/CTSI.

Star Water established a 20-11 advantage after the first quarter behind the 8 points apiece of Melvin Gallardo and Rommel Dizon. GPPC fell behind early as it was held to four field goals in the opening canto and clearly missed the services of Alex Ocampo, who scored in twin digits in six of their seven games in the regular season.

Star Water went on to keep the 9-point advantage in the second and third periods as GPPC failed to mount a comeback and just traded baskets with the former. Then midway in the fourth quarter, Star Water’s lead ballooned to 12, 65-53, after Edwin Santos made back-to-back baskets.

GPPC, in its final push to rally, drew 6 straight points from Randy Mungcal to bring the deficit down to single digit, 59-65. However, Star Water countered with its own 6-0 scoring run off Edgar Ombac’s baseline jumper and Dizon’s pair of layoffs to seal the deal, down to the last two minutes of the match.

Dizon paced Star Water with his 22 points, while Gallardo chipped in 20.

Meanwhile, Commonwealth Utilities Corp. sent D&Q/CTSI packing after recording an 87-76 victory in the curtain-raiser last Monday.

CUC turned on the heat in the second half to build a sizeable lead en route to its 11-point winning margin.

Down by a deuce after the first and ahead by only 5 at the break, 32-27, CUC opened a 16-point spread in the third, 53-37, thanks to the 8 points of Eugene Manglona in the penultimate frame. The former Kagman High School standout matched the total field goal of the entire D&Q/CTSI crew in the third quarter.

Then in the fourth frame, Iramk Simada took over from Manglona, knocking down three triples and scoring 11 in the payoff period to hand CUC the easy win. Manglona and Simada ended up with 23 and 18 markers, respectively.

With the victory, CUC arranged a quarterfinal duel against the top-ranked TanHoldings this Friday at 6:30pm, while the Star Water vs Mariana Resort match is set for 8pm.

Other quarterfinal pairings are Mobil/COAG vs Best Deal/RNV Construction and Joeten against McDonald’s and the four squads will battle for the first two Final Four berths tonight. The Joeten-McDonald’s tiff is set for 8pm after the 6:30 encounter between Best Deal/RNV Construction and Mobil/COAG.

First Game
CUC 87 — Manglona 23, Simada 18, Spaeth 11, Pestillos 8, Poquiz 8, Lieto 6, Mira 2.
D&Q/CTSI 76 — Tenepere 13, Rivera 10, Raho 9, Echavez 6, Fujihara 5, Asaivao 5, Jinang 3, Benavente 3, Santos 2.
Scoring by quarters: 13-15, 32-27, 53-37, 87-76.

Second Game
Star Water 79 ­— Dizon 22, Gallardo 20, Ombag 9, Santos 9, Brel 8, Itaas 6, Quiban 1.
GPPC 64 — Mungcal 15, Norial 14, Bandojo 9, M. Tagle 8, Santos 8, Sampang 5, A. Tagle 2.
Scoring by quarters: 20-11, 38-29, 59-50, 79-64.