Supportsave stays alive in Evo League finals

CEBU, Philippines – The Supportsave Dragons whipped back at the Telstra-Boomerangs in style, 89-75, to even their best-of-three Evo League finals at one game apiece in the 11th CCSC E-League men's basketball tournament last Sunday at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym.

Nino Belande fired 23 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and three steals for Supportsave, which rode on a decisive 29-15 attack in the opening quarter to blow away Telstra into pieces.

Telstra pulled within just a single-digit after three quarters 59-67, but Supportsave kept its offensive fire burning in the windup to dish out a vengeful 14-point rout.

Belande drew huge support from Germaine Jo Guarisma with 22 points, eight rebounds, four assists and as many steals followed by Gerald Mari Baritua with 12 points, four assists and four steals.

Sam Jordan Hermosa finished with 34 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists and three steals, but his all-around show proved futile for Telstra.

The two sides will meet again this Saturday in a do-or-die match for the crown and the right to challenge the lottery winner in the upper level Elite Classic.

Despite the loss, Hermosa still has something to be happy about as he snared the regular season MVP award. That automatically earned him a spot to the elite Mythical Five alongside Belande, Ariel Edera and Jhunrey Cabarrubias of Kyocera and Stephen de Leon of Author Solutions, Inc.

It was a triple celebration for Belande as he also emerged as the rebounding king with 14.32 rebounds per game. Jan Gabest of the 1&1 Marauders is the steals leader with a 5.25spg norm, Edera topped the assists department with a 5.34apg clip, while Jervis Sildura of Teletech lorded it over in blocks with 3.56bpg.

Ralph Belarmino of the 24/7 Cagers emerged as the scoring champion with an average of 33.88 points per game. That also made him the hands-down choice for the 'Rookie of the Year award. — EBV (FREEMAN)