CEBU, Philippines - The Accenture Sharks streaked to a 74-68 win over the Sykes Pioneers, 74-68, for their second straight win in the 9th CSCC E-League men's basketball tournament at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym.
Archie Brian Vincent Batua netted 24 points and seven rebounds, Ryan Edward Llanos scored 12 points and Ildefonso Bulangis, Jr. chipped in 11 markers for Accenture, which currently enjoys the solo lead in bracket B of Southern Conference with a 2-0 slate.
Frederick Montelibano and Jan O'Neil Sahilan chalked up 21 and 14 points, respectively, but they couldn't make a difference as Sykes tasted its first defeat of the season.
On the other hand, Brennan Gonzales had 15 points and Jose Rodelo Carabio banged in 10 markers as Wipro Tigers broke into the win column after stunning the fancied two-time champion Telstra-Teletech Titans, 76-60.
After leading by just three at halftime, 37-34, the Tigers outpointed the Titans in the third, 19-11, to rip the game apart, 58-45, heading into the final 10-minute mark of the contest. Wipro never looked back from there onwards to come up with a 16-point romp.
Clifford Amarado fired a season-high 31 points, but still went home on a pensive mood as Telstra-Telech suffered a rare back-to-back defeats
In the other match of a featured triple-header, the Calltek Trojans quickly rebounded from a previous setback and vented their ire on Author Solutions Hardbacks (formerly Xlibris Publishers), 57-52.
Four players cashed in twin figures for Calltek led by Aerl Genebraldo with 13. Christian Judilla and Jan Pierre Gellez each had 12 points followed by Mark Louise Gellez with 10.
Martin Ian de Guzman was the lone double-digit scorer with 10 for the Hardbacks, who stayed winless in two starts. (FREEMAN)