CECABA whacks Club Monday for fifth straight win in MP Cup

Barely 19 hours after hitting 10 triples of his league-record 40 points, Chester Cokaliong wielded anew his indefatigable shooting prowess, drilling in eight triples for a 24-point finish in Cebu Eastern College Alumni Basketball Association’s 77-62 demolition of Club Monday in the 1st MP Cup Invitational at the USC-Main gym.

Cokaliong, who shot 8-of-19 from beyond the arc, bombarded five triples in the first quarter to push CECABA to a sizzling 23-11 start. Star center Sammy Sia then unloaded 11 of his season-high 20 points in the second period to help pad their lead to 17 points at halftime, 43-26.

The Shell-backed CECABA squad never looked back from there and mounted its biggest lead of 22 points, 71-49, with 5:17 left to play. Club Monday staged a mini-rally in the windup, but Christopher Cokaliong nailed all his six points in the final three-minute mark of the contest to wrap things up for CECABA.

Bull-strong forward Mitchel Diputado cashed in 11 markers as CECABA notched its fifth consecutive victory after a heart-breaking loss to RWS Stable/AJL Surplus in the season-opener.

Ondong Garcia had 25 points for Club Monday, which stayed winless in four games.

In the other games, Ricky Tamarra fired a season-high 28 points and Eric Relampagos and Ronald Borromeo each had 17 points as Casino Filipino-Mactan escaped with an 82-80 victory over Cocoroj-Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), while Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael L. Rama exploded with 18 points - all from the 3-point land - to power Barkada-Rama Boys to a 90-56 thrashing of Dewfoam-United Architects Basketball Club (UABC).

Thus, Barkada-Rama Boys improved its win-loss record to 3-1, while Casino Filipino-Mactan now holds an even 3-3 card. Cocoroj-INC fell to 1-4, while UABC slipped to 1-5.