Jonel's, RCAF win in Labangon hooplah

CEBU, Philippines - Jonel’s Trucking owned by Joey Cal and the RCAF team led by Romy Faunillan defeated their respective rivals in different fashions in last Monday’s games of the Barangay Labangon Basketball Association (BLBA) Christmas tournament at the Labangon Sports Complex.

Jonel’s needed two overtime periods to persuade the G.I. Rion for a 121-114 victory.

RCAF, on the other hand, came from behind and scored a 115-114 scalping of the Guanino Pharmacy.

The G.I. Rion quintet found their range early and were bound to pull away with an impressive 31-17 start behind the heroics of Michael Arias and three-point artist Boboy Osmeña. The team dominated the game until the end of the third period, 78-68.

But Jonel’s came strong in the fourth period and then former USP Panther guard Erik Espinosa drilled in a booming triple in the closing seconds of regulation to forge a 98-all deadlock sending the game into the first overtime.

Jonel’s later took control in the first overtime until Dodong Espinosa of G. I. Rion made two charities to tie the count at 109-all with few ticks left sending the game into the second overtime.

Finally, Jonel’s caught fire in the second overtime and never looked back as they held G.I. Rion to just five points in the second extension as against their 12 points aided by the four consecutive steals by Mark Elizondo.

Espinosa scattered 33 points and Rowel Sumalinog netted 25 points to power Jonel’s. Petoy Mata added 15 markers and the team now holds a 6-1 win-loss record.

Dodong Espinosa had a tournament-high 42 points for G.I. Rion.

Danrey Baclay exploded with 35 points to lead RCAF, which now has a 7-2 win-loss record.

Noel Talas and Harry Reyes led the Pharmacists with 30 and 23 points, respectively.

The scores:

First Game:

Jonel’s (121) – E. Espinosa 33, Sumalinog 25, Mata 15, Villarta 12, Elizondo 11, Lans 7, de Gracia 5, Navaja 4, Cal 3, Castro 2, Quiroz 2, Cabilla 2

G. I. Rion (114) – D. Espinosa 42, Arias 16, Osmeña 14, Beltran 11, Mosqueda 10, Batad 9, Rico 6, Magallanes 4, Quijada 2

Second Game:

 RCAF (115) – Baclay 35, A. Tabasa 31, Del Campo 22, Espinosa 12, Faunilan 0, Dignos 3, L. Tabasa 2

Guanino (114) – Talas 30, Reyes 23, McCall 17, Requema 10, Arnoco 8, Abatayo 7, Zapanta 7, Parba 6, Trinidad 5, Navaja 1. – GGM (THE FREEMAN)