CEBU, Philippines — Keaton Taburnal dropped 28 points spiked with six rebounds, four assists and four steals as the Talisay City Aquastars handed the Minglanilla Archangels their first loss, 89-83, in the Gullas Cup:Vision 2020 Cebu First District Under 21 Basketball Tournament at the Bonifacio Bacaltos Sports Centrum in Sibonga.
Clark Ruedas added 19 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals while Jhaylord Castro dished out a spectacular double-double of 16 points and 16 rebounds laced with three assists for the Aquastars, who used a decisive endgame attack to turn the tables on the Archangels.
Trailing 60-66 after six quarters, the Aquastars closed the match with a blistering 29-17 rally to pull the rug from under the Archangels.
Rubino Singson also figured prominently with 11 points, seven boards and six assists as the Aquastars forged a three-way tie atop the leaderboard with the Archangels and the Carcar City Lechoneros with identical 3-1 win-loss cards.
Carcar notched its third victory after fending off the Naga City Electrifiers, 69-62. Jumar Bucao paced the Lechoneros with 12 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals followed by Jhevolks Navarra with 10 points, three steals and two assists.
The Sibonga Pillars, on the other hand, did not disappoint their hometown fans after they outlasted the San Fernando Spartans, 78-73, to even their record to 2-2. San Fernando fell to 1-3, leaving Naga (0-4) as the only winless side in the six-team tilt.
John Sonsona topscored for Sibonga with 19 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two assists. He was heavily backed up by Emman Suarez with 17 points, seven rebounds, one steal and one block. Frederick Rosales was the other double-digit scorer for the Pillars with 10 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block. EBV