Mandaue falls short of berth in Liga leg final

MANDAUE CITY , Philippines  – Cebu Landmaster-Mandaue pulled off a 76-71 victory over Forward Taguig but left with an empty bag in a dramatic final day of the preliminary round of the Smart Liga Pilipinas Conference III Mandaue City leg Friday at the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Center.

Needing to win by at least 10 points to force a three-way tie with Taguig and the Quezon Red Oilers at 2-1, Mandaue was leading comfortably by as many as 13 markers in the fourth period. However, Taguig slowly closed the gap as Mandaue put up a series of harried plays allowing their opponents to score off their miscues.

Quezon and Taguig thus earned seats in the leg finals with superior FIBA quotients of 1.053 and 1.000, respectively. Mandaue finished at 0.947 and will meet the winless Zamboanga Uno Latinos for third place.

“It’s hard to be completely happy with the win because we fell short of the finals. But I’m glad the team is starting to be more consistent. This will help us in the playoffs,” said Mandaue head coach Jun Tan.

Boyet Bautista, who played for Taguig in Conference I, led Mandaue with 16 points followed by Jercules Tangkay with 12 points and seven rebounds.  Lou Gatumbato again led Taguig with 20 points and four assists. Ariel de Castro contributed 13 markers..

The Mandaue City Leg champion will have the inside track at the second outright seat in November’s five-team Super Leg that will determine the next National Champion of the league backed by Smart, Accel, Molten, Calcium-Cee, Gatorade, Air 21 and Burlington and sanctioned by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP). The undefeated M.. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Ninos are already assured of the top seeding with an unreachable 45 points.

Earlier in the day, the Red Oilers of Gov. Raffy Nantes and Coach Oliver Bunyi went on to rewrite the Liga Pilipinas Record Book with their 143-85 extermination of the Latinos of Coach Ronald Rico.

Quezon raced to a 44-13 lead after one period, the most points by a team in a period. By halftime, the lead further stretched to 72-35, the most points in a half. The 143 total points and 58-point final winning margin bettered the marks established by the Trace-Laguna Stallions in their 134-88 mauling of the Toyota-Bacolod Turbos last September 4 in Angeles City.

Ramsey Williams tallied his third Liga triple-double with an incredible 27 assists, 13 rebounds and 11 points in 25 minutes of play. Coach Bunyi also became the fourth coach to win 30 games, joining Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba of Cebu (58), Jun Noel of Misamis Oriental (45) and Nomar Isla of Laguna (33).

Luis Palaganas presided over the carnage with 24 points in 12 minutes of play, followed by Jorel Canizares with 19. Five other Red Oilers had 10 or more points. Jayson Rebollos paced Zamboanga with 26 points while Charleston Bolias chipped in 23.

The best games from the Mandaue Leg will be shown next week on Solar Sports from Wednesday to Saturday. Liga Pilipinas Classics can also be seen daily on Viva Prime Channel. For more information, visit the league’s official website at www.ligapilipinas.net.