Tagaytay ruins Tribu Sugbu-Arthro

Buoyed by its nearly flawless perimeter shooting, the visiting Tagaytay Springs left Skygo Tribu Sugbu-Arthro in a mess after pulling off a close 75-70 victory in the 2006 Spring National Basketball Conference (NBC) National Cup played Thursday night the Talisay City gym.

Tagaytay, now 3-0 in their southern tour after beating Valencia and defending champion Ozamiz, leaned on its field shooting and successfully warded off the onslaught of Tribu's big men including including 6-8 Don Yabut, Ronald Joseph Quiñahan and Randy Sevilla.

It was center Rodel Mallari, who lorded it over against Tribu Sugbu's big men, leading Tagaytay with 17 points and 14 rebounds in 28 minutes inside the floor.

Big men Danny Capobres and Jeff Tajonera also joined Mallari in the scoring spree, churning in 14 and 11 points, respectively.

Tagaytay had the game under its control all the way and took a 38-33 spread at the half. Both teams engaged into a see-saw battle in the entire third period but Tagaytay ended it with a 53-52 edge.

Heads-up play by Tagaytay guards Aldrin Morante, Mar Reyes and Nani Epondulan forced Tribu Sugbu to scramble for defense, erasing a 60-55 deficitk, and a triple by Tribu Sugbu's Jerome Gadiane made the crowd alive as the host team came within a hairline, 70-71, in the final two minutes of the fourth period.

After Epondulan's basket that gave Tagaytay of coach Yong Garcia a 73-70 lead with still plenty of time to spare, Ronaldo Bucao missed back-to-back attempts from behind the arc and then Morante gave some breathing space for Tagaytay by sinking in two charities for a 75-70 count down to just 21 seconds, thus, putting away a dash of hope for Tribu Sugbu, who lost a homecourt debut for the first time since 2004.

Last year, the wards of coach Al Solis also lost in their debut but it was played in Ozamiz then bounced back in Cagayan de Oro.

Playing without Alex Cainglet, who opted to play in the MVBA, left a vacuum for Tribu Sugbu's outside shooting. It was Quiñahan, who topscored with 16 points while Gadiane finished with 15 points.

Without Cainglet, Solis fielded in PBL veteran Joel Co, who had identical eight points with that of Marvin Mercado.

The scores:

Tagaytay (75) - Mallari 17, Capobres 14, Morante 11, Tajonera 11, Epondulan 8, Guiyab 4, Barnson 4, Reyes 3, Genido 2, Neo 2

Arthro-Skygo Tribu Sugbu (70) - Quiñahan 16, Gadiane 15, Bucao 10, Co 8, Mercado 8, Sevilla 5, Ababon 4, Yabut 2, Almacin 2 Halftime: 38-33