Atan Guardo chalks up first win in TFS hoop

Atan Guardo survived a highly physical match-up with Moondogs, 76-66, for its first victory in the TFS Basketball Tournament at the Visayas Glass gym in Brgy. Guadalupe, this city.

Totong Villanueva came up with an explosive show in the fourth quarter where he converted 7-of-11 attempts from the field to snuff the air out of Moondogs' nose.

Although it was a rugged contest, Atan Guardo was in full command behind the impeccable passing skills of Villanueva, Richard Gubaton and Anthony Bravo that vaulted them to a 15-point lead, 68-53, with halfway mark in the final period.

However, Dong Hendive and Anwar Satina, who combined for 35 points, retaliated with their fastbreak conversions to pull Moondogs within, 63-70.

That proved to be Moondogs' last hurrah as Gubaton, Mulchandani and Boy Bravo stepped up bigtime in the dying seconds to bail Atan Guardo out of danger.

In the other game, USC Nursing outsmarted Monster Radio in a low-scoring game, 49-39.

USC Nursing, which played catch up most of the time, pulled off the victory midway in the fourth quarter behind the late heroics of Lawrence Saballa and Dominic Duran.

The scores
First game
Atan Guardo (76) - Villanueva 23, Gubaton 12, Mulchandani 8, Bravo 9, Canatan 6, Villarosa 4, Cinco 2, Labay 2
Moondogs (66) - Hendive 23, Satina 12, Seroy 12, Ygay 8, Sykmite 6, Reyes 2, Garcia 2, Uy 1
Quarterscores: 16-16, 32-27, 51-48, 76-66

Second game
USC Nursing (49) - Saballa 10, Duran 8, Atanacio 6, Cortes 5, Escobiro 4, dela Torre 4, Buenaflor 3,
Halican 2, Demecillo 2, Ranillo 2, Lim 2
Monster Radio (39) - J. Osmeña 11, Boniao 9, Pabilona 7, Arnibal 8, I. Osmeña 4
Quarterscores: 10-18, 24-26, 32-35, 49-39