He entered the scene by firing a three-point shot in the final quarter, and when San Roque brought the game into 62-62 deadlock, he broke the tie in the last few seconds handing the Diamond Fixers their seventh straight win in the 2009 Miller Lite Invitational Cup during last Saturday’s game at the Gualo Rai Basketball Court.
After losing twice in the early part of the tournament, the Fixers kept grip on victory sweeping all the succeeding seven games.
With Gil Gapor controlling the offense, San Roque was leading by 11 points in the first quarter. Ryan Paras and Rudy Miraflor helped him clamped the Fixers’ offense and protected their lead all the way to the half time break.
JR Barrios led the rally in the third quarter firing 16 of his 24 points to take the lead.
But the imminent victory was in the brink of slipping away when San Roque’s Jerry Hidalgo and Arnold Capuli blasted from behind the three-point arc, and Gapor barreled through the Fixers line of defense to score 10 of his 26 points.
Cayanan picked where Barrios left off and a two-pointer ended the game in favor of the Fixers.
Westco 81, Tropical Laundry 67
Danny Illahi kept the gap wide open as he scored half of his total points for Westco-Asahi in the third quarter sending Tropical Laundry to nine-game losing streak, 81-67.
Nelson Samson’s three-pointer and Bobby Vargas’ three consecutive two-pointers in the fourth quarter pulled Wesco away from Tropical Laundry to secure their win.
Even when Tropical Laundry’s Ronald Delos Reyes outscored everybody in the first quarter, Samson, Illahi, Joel Javier and Randy Pelisamen combined points to give Westco a two-figure lead.
Delos Reyes and Art Salazar cut the lead to seven points in the second quarter.
Olan Tengco backed Illahi up in the beginning of the second half stretching the lead to 11 points, then, Westco never looked back.
Delos Reyes scattered 48 points in the court in a losing attempt to catch up.
Scores:
Diamond Fixers 64 – J. Barrios 24, J. Artates 11, M. Manalo 11, D. Hernandez 7, R. Cayanan 5, J. Llagas 4, B. Garcia 2.
San Roque 62 – G. Gapor 26, R. Paras 9, J. Gatdula 6, R. Miraflof 6, A. Capuli 5, A. Fernando 4, J. Hidalgo 3, E. Bautista 2, R. Odicta 1.
Quarterscores: 8-19, 21-28, 48-41, 64-62
Westco 81 – D. Illahi 20, N. Samson 17, B. Vargas 13, F. Cariño 8, B. Manalon 8, R. Pelisamen 8, J. Javier 7.
Tropical Laundry 67 – R. Delos Reyes 48, A. Salazar 12, J. Rivera 5, G. Salazar 2.
Quarterscores: 24-14, 40-33, 60-49, 81-67.
