Cebu gets backon winning track

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu Greats bounced back from a previous loss in style, crushing the Valenzuela City Darkhorse, 89-70, for their eighth win in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) Season 8 on Thursday night, June 4, at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

Mark Meneses bagged 17 points with eight rebounds, two assists and three steals while Ron Dennison also tallied 17 markers with two rebounds as Cebu atoned quickly from their 80-91 defeat to the Gensan Warriors that ended their five-game winning streak last week.

Wowie Escosio added 14 points, eight rebounds, one assist and one steal while Dhon Reverente contributed 11 rebounds and four assists for the Greats, who improved to 8-3 after hurdling six of their last seven assignments.

Cebu actually trailed 17-19 at the end of the first period but launched a 23-10 counterattack to seize control, 40-29, at halftime.

Valenzuela came threateningly close for the last time at 60-64 with just 44 seconds gone by in the fourth quarter but Cebu dropped a devastating 13-0 bomb to rip the game apart, 77-60, in the final 6:21 mark.

A 5-0 blitz by Dondon Hontiveros in the last 95 seconds sealed Cebu’s 19-point rout of the Darkhorse. The ageless Cebuano hotshot finished with eight points, two rebounds, and one assist.

Angelo Obuyes and Jay Collado connived for 41 points but their one-two punch was not enough as Valenzuela lost for the third time in their last five matches and fell to 5-6.