Basilan BRT maintained its spotless Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Mindanao Challenge campaign after dismantling host team Pagadian City, 82-76, late Thursday evening at the Pagadian City Gymnasium.
Tied at the half, Basilan erupted for a 20-5 run topped by Ar Raouf Julkipli’s layup to start the third period and establish a 15-point spread, 61-46, with four minutes and 20 seconds left.
But the Explorers were able to cut the deficit to a single digit at the end of the frame, 54-63.
Darwin Lunor waxed hot in the fourth period, making three straight baskets to build a 13-point lead, 69-56, but Pagadian answered with six straight points to close in at 62-69.Basilan put the game away with an 11-4 burst to put the game away, 80-66, with 1:14 to go.
The dribblers from down south are now 3-0 won-lost.In a span of 54 seconds, The Explorers sank 10 straight points icapped by Niño Ibañez’s trey in a 54-second span to mildly threaten at 76-80 with 20.7 ticks left.
But Dennis Daa iced the game from the foul line.“We had trouble breaking their pressure defense in the first half, but we managed to find an antedote,” Basilan head coach Ron Jalmanzar said.
Dennis Daa led the victors with 18 points and six rebounds while Nikko Panganiban and Junjie Hallare chalked up 15 points apiece.
JC Luciano added nine points and seven rebounds while Med Salim got eight points and eight rebounds.
Jorem Morada, who earned the Chooks-to-Go Manok ng Bayan player of the game award the other day, hit the showers early after incurring consecutive technical fouls at the 2:48 mark of the first period.
Judel Fuentes paced the Explorers anew with 23 points but went 6-of-18 from the field, good for just 33.3 percent.
Ibanez stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists as they fell to 2-2.