Sharks stand ground at home turf, repulse GenSan 5

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu-Casino Ethyl Alcohol kept  their playoff dreams within reach in the 2019-20 Chooks-to-Go/MPBL Lakan Cup after a 72-66 win over the GenSan Warriors-Burlington Saturday at the SWU-Aznar Coliseum here.

Playing in front of their fellow Cebuanos, Sharks head coach Noynoy Falcasantos made sure that his players did not get carried away and delve away from his system.

“Sinabi ko lang na just play your defense. Kung anong ginagawa namin sa ine-ensayo namin, ‘wag kaming lalayo doon at mag-stay kami doon,” said Falcasantos.

With his squad down by two points, 59-61, Rhaffy Octobre poured eight points in a 12-2 swing to give Cebu an eight-point cushion, 71-63 with 1:47 remaining in the game.

GenSan’s John Orbeta then went for a split on the charity stripe while Marlon Basco,who was fouled from the three-point line, converted two freebies to make it a five-point game for GenSan with 8.08 ticks left.

Kraniel Viloria went 1-of-2 from the line to ice the game for good with 4.6 remaining.

University of San Carlos product Wiliam McAloney spearheaded Cebu with 19 points and 15 rebounds while Viloria chipped in 16 points to push Cebu to a 10-12 standing in the Southern Division – just 2.5 games behind eighth-running Zamboanga with still nine games left in their slate.

Octubre scored all of his 11 points in the final quarter.

Meanwhile, Robby Celiz’s 26-point outburst went down the drain as GenSan dropped to 15-8, keeping third place also in the Southern Division.