CEBU, Philippines - Defending champion Aegis Vipers grinded through a 61-59 victory over the Lexmark Stallions in a rematch of last year's finals in the 10th CSCC E-League men's basketball tournament last Saturday at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym.
As expected, the clash of the league's titans went down-the-wire, but Aegis had the last laugh, thanks to a decisive offensive surge in the last two quarters of play.
Aegis trailed by nine points at halftime, 22-31, but battled back in the third period, 18-12, then sustained its momentum in the closing minutes of the contest to turn the tables of the hard-fighting Lexmark.
Ryan Veloso paced Aegis with 19 points on top of 10 rebounds, while Dean Junber Escalon chipped in 10 markers, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Sylvester Millevo had 18 points, five steals, three asists and two rebounds but couldn't make a difference for Lexmark. Niel Tiempo and Ralph Loren Martinez nailed 14 and 11 markers, respectively, in a losing cause.
In the other games, Ildefonso Bulangis, Jr. and Archie Brian Vincent Batua connived for 22 points as the Accenture Sharks crushed the Calltek Trojans, 63-32, while Earvin Ferraren exploded with 20 points, 10 rebounds and four assists to power the Xerox Knights to a 55-47 victory over the Kyocera Frontiers.
Also, Marco Antonio Real dished out 18 points laced with five assists, three rebounds and as many steals to lead the Teleperformance Kings to a 71-45 whacking of the Job Target Bandits. (FREEMAN)