Lion Tiger takes game 1 in Partner's Cup

CEBU, Philippines- Veteran Phil Mercader found his right elements and popped out from his cage as the Lion Tiger Aerosol-UV Lancers scored their biggest victory so far against the Gaisano Capital-UC Webmasters in their 76-64 triumph in Game 1 of the 5th CESAFI Partner’s Cup best-of-five championship series last Monday at the Cebu Coliseum.

Mercader had a breakout game scoring 27 points.

Edrian Lao finished with 18 points and was given credit for clamping down on defense against 6-9 Junemar Fajardo to prevent him from dominating the painted area although the latter still topscored for Gaisano with 22 points.     

In showing his championship experience with the Lancers who won nine straight CESAFI titles, Mercader was relentless in the fourth period where he scored 13 points including a three-pointer that padded their lead to five, 60-55 inside the four-minute mark and Lion Tiger never looked back since then.  

While Fajardo reigned supreme among other big men offensively leading to the fouling out of the 6-6 Andrew Avellanoza, the other Gaisano Capital players failed to contribute as they could hardly buy a bucket due to the pesky defense of Lion Tiger.

Even the hard working Roger Caytuna had a tough time with the way Lion Tiger clamped down on him each time he went for a basket.         

Reliable scorers for Gaisano in the likes of Robinson Mohammad and Roger Pogoy were held down to points in single digit and were apparently annoyed by the aggressive Lion Tiger defense.         

Lion Tiger momentarily gave up the lead they held from most of the time when Gaisano had a minor 6-0 run giving them a 55-53 edge but the UV-manned squad quickly recovered by responding seven straight points for a 60-55 lead en route to taking Game 1.

The two protagonists now have split the four games they played in this tournament.

Fajardo's Gaisano Capital won in the first round and Mercader's Lion Tiger bounced back in the second round. Again, Gaisano won in the semifinals but the biggest win for Lion Tiger was in the finals the other day.

In the battle for third place, Rose Aquarius Merchandising-USPF Panthers snapped a three-game losing skid against the San Marino Corned Tuna-SWU Cobras and scored a 76-70 victory only for the first time in four meetings.         

Rose Aquarius lost a huge 56-40 lead, but was lucky enough to recover their composure despite the scoring binge of Bonifacio Guillena III and Eleazar Armecin.

Fritz Dajalos led the Rose Aquarius with 18 points while four of his teammates also finished in double figures.

It was Rene Pacquiao, San Marino's very active post player who top scored with 25 points even as Guillena and Armecin each fired 16 markers.         

The scores:

First Game:

Rose Aquarius (76) - Dajalos 18, Sedurifa 12, J. Ferraren 11, Linao 11, E. Ferraren 10, Avila 7, Maraño 4, Meca 2, Sollano 1.

San Marino (70) - Pacquiao 25, Guillena 16, Armecin 16, Padilla 5, Ortuyo 3, Dalondonan 3, Nalos 2       

Second Game:

Lion Tiger (76) - Mercader 27, Lao 18, Mendoza 9, Cincoflores 7, Perolino 6, Rios 4, Codilla 4, Avellanoza 2, Silva 1       

Gaisano Capital (64) - Fajardo 22, Pogoy 9, Batua 9, Mohammad 8, Caytuna 5, Bercede 2, Batino 2. - THE FREEMAN