Aquastars put brake on Turbos

The Talisay City Aquastars staged a daring breakaway in the third quarter to destroy the visiting Toyota-Iloilo Turbos, 80-65, in the ML Kwarta Padala Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) Second Conference the other night at the Talisay City Sports Complex.

With Bruce Dacia, Leo Bat-og and Rino Berami going ice-cold, Morsie Akad, Chris Carretas, Kim Calo and Jessie Lumantas provided the offensive spark when it mattered most for the Aquastars of head coach and MLSDF executive director Eddie Ybañez.

Akad topscored for the Aquastars with 15 points, even as three others cashed in double figures underscoring Talisay's balanced attack.

Calo chipped in 13 markers, while Carretas and Lumantas combined for 21 points for the Aquastars, who assumed the temporary second spot in the Visayas Division with an even 2-2 win-loss record.

It was a close battle early on resulting into four deadlocks and five lead changes in the opening period. The Turbos stayed within striking range, 21-23, but Akad hit a triple to spark an 11-3 run, giving the Aquastars a twin-digit edge for the first time, 34-24, with 5:40 left in the second period.

The gritty Turbos rallied back to pull within a hairline at halftime, 45-46. They even grabbed the lead, 47-46, on a basket by Nicolas Billones to open up the final half.

But just when the prospect of pulling an upset looked brighter for them, disaster struck the Ilongo visitors like lightning, immediately causing a major trouble on the Turbos' offensive engine.

At the point when the Turbos' conked out on both ends of the court, Carretas, Calo and Lumantas conjured all the strength they could muster to spearhead a 19-4 outburst that handed the Aquastars a commanding 16-point bulge, 65-49, with two minutes remaining before the final canto.

The Aquastars had their biggest advantage of 19 points at 80-61 on back-to-back baskets by Akad in the final 1:36 mark of the contest.

Ruel Balgos led the Iloilo Turbos with a game-high 24 points followed by Henry Sencil and Elben Leonida with 10 apiece. The missing link was Eldrin Senierez, who was held off to only five points.



As of this writing last night, the Turbos were still playing against Cebu Landmaster-Mantawi of realtor Joe Soberano and coach Jun Tan at the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex. Toyota-Iloilo will wind up its Metro Cebu swing tomorrow when it battles M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu at the Cebu Coliseum.