Convergys, Supportsave draw first blood; Belande, Batua named MVPs in E-League

CEBU, Philippines - The defending champion Convergys Converters and Supportsave Dragons bested separate foes to move one victory away from clinching their respective division titles in the 12th CSCC E-League men's basketball tournament last Saturday at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym.

Franz Dysam had 14 points and passed out three assists, Lourenz Limpangog added 12 points on top of six rebounds and three assists as the Converters drew first blood over the Lexmark Stallions, 59-48, in their best-of-three series for the Elite Classic championship.

Aldene Jay Batino chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds and two steals for the Converters, who used a crippling third-quarter run to turn back the Stallions and shore up their title retention bid.

Convergys toned down after taking an early 17-14 lead, allowing the Stallions to gain a six-point headway at halftime, 32-26, but a recharged Converters launched a decisive counter-attack in the third period, 23-6, to regain control of the match, 49-38, for good.

Sylvester Millevo paced Lexmark with 14 points, three rebounds and as many steals followed by Vill Duero with 10 points, two rebounds and two steals.

In the Evo League, the Dragons pulled the rug from under the Tech Mahindra Tech Mighties, 75-63, to gain a 1-0 upstart in their own race-to-2 titular showdown.

Nino Belande scattered 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks in an all-around show for the Dragons, who detonated a devastating bomb at the endgame to blow the Tech Mighties out.

Trailing 48-51 after three quarters, the Dragons conjured all the strength they could muster to deliver a punishing 27-12 blow in the windup that knocked the Tech Mighties down.

 Belande was heavily backed up by Justin Marie Mier with 16 points laced with eight rebounds, five assists and three steals and Germain Jo Guarisma with 13 points, six steals and three assists for the Dragons. Elmer John J Saavedra had a solid double-double of 27 points and 10 rebounds in a losing effort for Tech Mighties.

The win was extra special for Belande as he was honored as the season MVP in the Evo League with an overwhelming statistical points total of 102.82.

Belande, who also emerged as the scoring champion with an average of 23.82 points per game and steals leader with 3.09spg, was joined in the Mythical five by EJ Saavedra, who was earlier named as 'Rookie of the Year', Christopher Durango and Johnrey Girasol of the QBE Generals and Ignatius Mark Loyola of the Dynnino Raptors.

Roberto Castro, Jr. is the blocks leader with 4.38bpg, Jade Seno of The Results Spartans topped the assists department with 5.64apg, while Perry Niones is the best in rebounding with 14.0rpg.

In the Elite Classic,  Archie Batua of the Accenture Sharks copped the coveted regular season MVP trophy. Also the scoring champ with 19.29ppg, Batua automatically made it to the Mythical Five alongside his teammate Junas Misa, Aldene Batino and Sherwin Resilla of Convergys and Franco Angelo Cipriano of Lexmark. Batino also bagged the 'Rookie of the Year' plum, Cipriano came out as the leader in blocks with 1.88bpg, while Misa is the league's assists king with 4.57apg.

Jasper Diaz of the Telstra Boomerangs, who dominated the boards with 14.13rpg, shared the best in steals honors with his teammate Jetro Gonzaga on identical 2.50spg. (FREEMAN)