Lion Tiger roars past Prime Asia

CEBU, Philippines - Lion Tiger Aerosol needed extra five minutes before roaring to its ninth win at the expense of Prime Asia Pawnshop, 78-76, even as Winner Beef Loaf eliminated Ave Maria Sanctuary Park, 78-70, in the 5th CESAFI Partners' Cup at the Cebu Coliseum.

Games today

(Cebu Coliseum)

5:30 pm Rose Aquarius vs. Gaisano Capital

7:00 pm Lion Tiger vs. San Marino

Lion Tiger, which survived a barrage of triples from Prime Asia shooters, was staring defeat after Nilton Otida scored with a hard drive in the final seven seconds, 68-66, but Harold Cincoflores sliced through his defenders to sink the knot-tying basket just one tick left to force an overtime.

The crowd was still on their feet when Giovanni Padillo completed a three-point play giving the Prime Asia a 76-75 edge down to the final 19.7 seconds, but Edrian Lao quickly answered it with a three-point play of his own off a foul by Joven Cid Cortes as Lion Tiger seized the upperhand, 78-76, with only 4.7 ticks remaining.

Lion Tiger decided to go to Lao in the overtime period as he was very productive at the paint but despite of their 75-68 lead at one time in the extra period, Prime Asia still managed to fire back an 8-0 run to grab the lead once more, 76-75, before Lao's game winning three-point play, 78-76.

Lao ate up all his defenders leading the way for Lion Tiger with 27 points, eight of them in overtime even as Cincoflores added 15 points as they improved to a 9-2.

Earlier, Chester Curso topscored for the Winner Beef Loaf and rookie Steve Castro added 14 markers as they chalked up only their second win in 11 games.

The scores

First game

Winner Beef Loaf (78) - Curso 19, Castro 14, Dimco 12, Taboada 5, Lopez 5, A. Nazareno 5, D. Nazareno 4, Brigoli 4, Taghoy 3, Booc 3, Batiquin 2, Felisario 2

Ave Maria (70) - C. Parker 15, Sulaiman 11, Olbedado 8, Genodiala 6, Dela Rama 5, Lajato 4, Tabaloc 4, Bucayan 3, Cinco 3, M. Parker 2, Palileo 2 Senining 2 Halftime: 38-39

Second game

Lion Tiger (78) - Lao 27, Cincoflores 15, Mendoza 8, Saycon 6, Mercader 5, Premacio 5, Silva 4, Avellanoza 4, Abad 3, Graf 3, Codilla 2

Prime Asia (76) - Padillo 18, Adlawan 11, Hermosa 10, Otida 6, Cortes 6, Cantonao 6, Reyes 6, Codilla 5, Panerio 4, Uy 2, Belangel 2 Halftime: 29-22 OT. 68-all (FREEMAN)