Enervon partner's cup San Marino intosemis

CEBU, Philippines - The third seeded San Marino Tuna/CIT-U Wildcats hacked out a masterful 81-63 victory over the lowest-ranked Raphael's Cafe/USJ-R Jaguars to advance into semifinal round of the Enervon CESAFI Partner's Cup yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.

Although Raphael's Cafe was in fighting mood early on, San Marino was in command from the onset, taking a 39-32 advantage which they padded into a 13-point deficit at the end of the third period, 56-46.

San Marino further battered the hapless Raphael's Cafe side,with Christian Taboada greeting the fourth period with back-to-back triples as they went on to post their biggest lead at 21 points, 80-59, with less than two minutes left to play. They actually closed the match with a 10-0 blitz to preserve the 18-point rout.

Allan Dimco topscored with 18 points, while Taboada nd Vincent Menguito chipped in 15 markers apiece for San Marino, which will open its semifinal campaign against no. 2 seed Gaisano Capital South-UC Webmasters on Thursday.

James Regalado had 20 points for the already ousted Raphael's Cafe, while Kyle Lajato banged in 15 in a losing cause.

The scores

San Marino Tuna (81) - Dimco 18, Taboada 15, Menguito 15, Pono 11, Dela Cerna 7, Taghoy 6, Bucao 5, Limalima 4, Batiquin 2

Raphael's Cafe (63) - Regalado 20, Lajato 15, M. Parker 6, Diaz 6,C. Senining 5, Bayhonan 4, R. Senining 3, C. Parker 2, Zosa 2 Halftime: 39-32 (FREEMAN)