Becchi, Srugi stay in playoff contention

CEBU, Philippines - Teams Don Simon Srugi and Becchi Village hammered separate all-Bosconian alumni teams in a bid for a slot at the playoff with two more teams to deal with in the elimination round of the Don Bosco @ 200 Alumni Basketball Tournament.

Both teams took a 2-1 win-loss card in the standings under Groups A and B, respectively, with Srugi placing third in six slots in A and Becchi sharing the top spot in B as the games are played at Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC).

Srugi clobbered Team Blessed Laura Vicuña, 53-44, with Joirene Salcedo sparking the charge as he opened and closed the first quarter with separate triples and banged another from his 15 points to give Srugi a comfortable 34-25 lead at halftime.

Salcedo further closed the third quarter with another trey at the buzzer to keep his team’s 9-point margin, 43-34, as Dennis Christopher Morales took charge in the second half pouring 10 of his 16 points.

Morales wrote off the two treys of Giovanni Canceko, playing team manager of Vicuña, in the final canto to maintain Srugi’s 9-point lead towards the end.

Canceko tried to resurrect Vicuña from a 10-point first quarter deficit making nine of his 22 total points in the second quarter with help from Edgar Cañete Jr. who added six of his 11 total points.

But these were not enough to cover the scores made by Srugi’s bench warmers with treys by Salcedo and Naluin Castro.

In the other game, Kenneth Rey Marilao, Daryl Diamante and John Lyndon Fermo danced with four points each to give Becchi an 11-point lead over Team Fr. John Peter Clifford that saw playing team manager Bertoni Salazar score just four plus two from Fermo’s opposing younger brother, Lyndon Jr.

Marilao further scored six points in the second quarter with similar points from Neil Selerio and two jumpers from Ryan Alforque to stretch Becchi’s lead by 16 points, 33-17. (FREEMAN)