Christopher Cokaliong is somehow slowly stepping out of the shadows of his more popular brother Chester.
Christopher scored a season-high 16 points including four crucial free throws with less than a minute left to play to buoy Chester Enterprises ’82/83 to an air-gasping 50-47 win over Asian Home Appliance ’89/93 on Tuesday night in the Cebu Eastern College Alumni Basketball Association’s 10th Dr. Chen Lieh Fu Memorial Cup at the City Sports Club-Cebu Gym.
Thus, Class ’82/83 marched into the semifinal round without any glitch, in the same way with the undefeated Division II topseed Welcoat Paints 2004 which cruised to the penultimate phase of the four-month tilt by terminating ACY Enterprises 2006 with relative ease, 71-45.
The two protagonists played sans one of their key players. Class ’82/83 was without Edwin Lim, while Class ’89/93 showed up without Robert Lim.
In the end, Cokaliong’s steady hands from the foul line mattered most for Class ’82/83.
Top gunner Stephen Tan dished out a game-tying high 16 points for Class ’82/83, which also drew 14 markers from Cesar Ting.
Ryan Alexis Mendez paced Class ’89/93 with 16 points. Edson Ong had 15 points followed by Henry Chua with 10 as they went to a timely seaside driving.
Later in the night, Aljhune Areja exploded with 20 points and Christian Espada chipped in 13 markers as they proceeded to the next level of the competition without loss in 11 games, so far.
After a slow start, Class 2004 detonated a devastating 20-5 bomb in the second period to tear the game apart at halftime, 31-14. The Welcoat-backed squad further battered its hapless foe in the final two quarters to come up with a 26-point rout.
Nolsie John Cisneros scattered 22 points, but got no support from the rest of his teammates as Class 2006 got its departure slip from the league this season. The scores
First game
Class ’82/83 (50) - Cokaliong 16, Tan 16, Ting 14, Borromeo 2, Leung 1, Ku 1
Class ’89/93 (47) - Mendez 16, Ong 15, Chua 10, Chiang 6
Second game
Class 2004 (71) - Areja 20, Espada 13, Co 9, Sy 8, Mamac 7, Chan 6, Uy 6, Sypongco 2
Class 2006 (45) - Cisneros 22, Tan 9, Yap 8, Tan 4, Dy 2– EBV