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| CSCC 2011 Powerade E-League |
DEFENDING champions
Teletech Titans and the
Lexmark Stallions win against lower-ranked foes in the quarterfinals of the
2011 Powerade E-League for Basketball at the City Sports Club-Cebu Gym.
Last Sunday, October 23, the fourth-seed Titans withstood the relentless attacks of the Aegis People Support Vipers, 100-95, while the third-ranked Stallions stomped the Calltek Trojans, 69-57.
Teletech and Lexmark hold twice-to-beat advantages going into the quarterfinals for finishing in the top after the eliminations. The two teams made sure that there will be no second chances by winning their first games to advance to the semis against still to be determined foes.
I was there to witness the physical battle between last season's final match-up, Teletech Titans and Aegis People Support Vipers. The game was like a championship one -- bodies flying, the shoving, and trash-talking and not to miss out the loud cheers and jeers from fans of each side. The titans edged the Vipers with their balanced attack with Lourenz Limpangog leading the ex-champs with 22 points, Sherwin Resilla firing 18 points, Ad Roel Laboga submitting 15 and Sherwin Anghay and Shem Japheth Banua adding 10 each for Teletech, which recovered from a 15-21 first quarter deficit with a 25-16 run in the second period.
Clifford Amarado exploded for 30 points but still failed to save the fifth-seed Vipers from elimination. Ryan Veloso added 17, while Mariel Vincent Barrera and John Louie Arriesgado had 11 and 10, respectively.
Franco Angelo Cipriano, meanwhile, was the lone Lexmark player to score in double figures with 13 but had 10 teammates scoring at least two points. Lexmark had the impressive half-court press that lead to the Trojans' turnovers and most importantly limited their star-player, Christian Judilla, from taking the command.
Mark Louise Gellez scored 17, Jan Pierre Gellez finished with 16 and Aerl Genebraldo added for the Trojans, whose impressive run this year ended with the 12-point loss.
Despite the loss, the Trojans still found reason to be proud after finishing the season with a 10-5 (win-loss) record after tallying just three wins last season.
The quarterfinal battles will continue on Saturday with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds Stream Blue Devils and Convergys Wolves playing the Accenture Sharks and the Eperformax Reds, respectively.
Prediction:
Most probable match-up on the next round would be Stream vs Teletech and Convergys vs Lexmark.
See you all in the Semi-final round!
