Mantawi sweeps WNC

A red-hot Doroteo Almacin sparked a fierce endgame assault to vault the Mantawi Traders to an 80-73 victory over host West Negros College (WNC) Mustangs and bolster their semifinal chances in the ML Kwarta Padala Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) First Conference at the Talisay City gym in Negros Occidental.

Almacin wielded an almost flawless outside shooting to finish with a season-high 27 points, 10 in the payoff period, as the Traders evened their win-loss record to 3-3 in the league backed by ML Kwarta Padala, Cokaliong Shipping Lines, Molten, Panasonic, Nature's Spring, and Sulpicio Lines.

It was practically an all-Almacin show because except for Randy Sevilla who contributed 11 markers, no other Mantawi player dished out twin digits.

The 6-foot-7 Rino Berame, Joseph Guangco, and Kim Calo though made their presence felt on the intangible facets of the game aside from combining for a substantial 27-point output for the Traders of Mayor Thadeo Z. Ouano and coach Eddie Ybañez.

It was a completely different story compared to their first encounter where Mantawi raced to a formidable 33-2 lead as this time around, the Traders could only muster a narrow 33-30 edge at the end of the first half.

The reigning National Students champion WNC Mustangs, egged on by the fervent cheers of their hometown fans, fought back in the third canto, 27-21, to gain a three-point headway, 57-54, entering the final period.

However, the Mantawi Traders, with Almacin on the firing end, unleashed a sizzling 26-16 rally in the windup to become the third team in the Visayas Division to sweep the Mustangs.

Benjie Vergara topped WNC with 27 points, while Stanley Tizon added 12 markers. The missing link was scoring machine Ely Olarte who was handcuffed to a season-low 12 markers as the Mustangs crashed to their fourth straight defeat in as many games.

As of this writing, the Traders were still slugging at the University of San Agustin Gym in Iloilo City.

The scores

Mantawi (80) - Almacin 27, Sevilla 11, Berame 9,

Guangco 9, Calo 8, Jueves 6, Akad 6, Pepito 2, Garcia 2

West Negros College (73) - Vergara 21, Tizon12, Olarte 12, Deocadis 9, Espinosa 7, Merabilles 7, Laurenio 3, Quilantang 2

Quarterscores: 18-15, 33-30, 54-57, 80-73