spot_img
29 C
Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

BaliPure nears 3rd place; Air Force is S’ Turf champ

- Advertisement -

PENANG, Malaysia—Blackwater worked on its suffocating defense and overwhelmed the Malaysia Dragons, 94-52, to win the 2016 Penang Chief Minister Cup International Basketball Invitational Championship on Tuesday at the Han Chiang Indoor Stadium here.

BALIPURE weathered Alyssa Valdez’s absence and Laoag’s tough stand to pound out a 23-25, 25-21, 25-21, 19-25, 15-11 victory and move closer to a third place finish in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Open Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig last night.

Janine Marciano put on a gem of a game and rammed in 23 attacks for a 25-hit output while Gretchel Soltones backed her up with 20 points, including a killer of a spike that snapped the Power Smashers’ last-ditch rally in the fifth set which the Water Defenders dominated after racking up four of the first five points.

- Advertisement -

They held sway from there with Amy Ahomiro and Dzi Gervacio joining the attack while pouncing on their rivals’ back-to-back errors that gave the Water Defenders an 11-4 lead.

The Power Smashers did fight back as skipper Relea Saet came away with a couple of aces and Jessica Galanza scored on a hit that made it 11-14 only to be stopped by Soltones’ hard spike.

“We got a little bit worried after the match reached the fifth set. But we were able to pull through and I’m happy for the team,” said Marciano, who went on to bag the game’s best player honors.

Meanwhile, Air Force bucked some pre-game distractions and Cignal’s gritty stand in the third set, hacking out a 25-19, 25-17, 28-26 victory yesterday to clinch the Shakey’s V-League Season Two Spiker’s Turf-Open Conference crown.

Fauzi Ismail and Howard Mojica, rookie recruits from National U and Emilio Aguinaldo, respectively, redeemed themselves from pre-game gaffes as they combined for 28 hits to power the Jet Spikers to the 75-minute victory and the championship via sweep of their best-of-three series.

Air Force also took Game One, 25-19, 25-16, 25-19, last July 4 before the league took a break to give way to the FIBA Manila OQT staging.

The victory, Air Force’s first championship in the league, also atoned for its heartbreaking defeat to the same Cignal side in last year’s Reinforced Conference where the Jet Spikers took Game One only to lose the last two to the resurgent HD Spikers.

BaliPure shoots for third place in the season-opening conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s and backed by Mikasa and Accel on Saturday with coach Charo Soriano stressing the need for her wards to toughen up on reception and polish their serves.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles