Landmaster gets even with Arthro

Cebu Landmaster exacted revenge on its lone tormentor Arthro Kontra Arthritis, 83-70, last Tuesday in Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) 2007 Second Conference hostilities at the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex.

Veteran Bong Marata exploded for 13 points as he pushed Landmaster to a 45-28 halftime advantage. The wards of Coach Jun Tan then mounted their biggest lead at 48-28 early in the third canto.

Arthro of sports patron Jonathan Guardo and Coach Al Solis gamely fought back as Alex Cainglet and Mark Ababon slowly ate away Landmaster’s lead.  The prolific duo accounted for 19 of Arthro’s points in the third quarter to close in entering the final 10 minutes.

The rest of the Arthro crew then took over, coming to their closest at six points several times, the last coming at the 53-second mark on Ababon’s  free throw split.  Both teams then swapped failed offensives until Mike Manigo nailed a booming triple with 19 seconds to play that assured the Landmaster win. 

Mark Yee added two more free throws and a dunk at the buzzer for the final tally.

Yee finished with 19 points followed by Marata with 17.  Cainglet led Arthro with 23 points while Bernie Ursal added 12.

The Joe Soberano-owned franchise thus roared to its fifth consecutive victory and maintained its top ranking with a 7-1 win-loss card in the six-team league sanctioned by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP) and supported generously by ML Kwarta Padala, Nature’s Spring Water, Sulpicio Lines, Accel, Cokaliong Shipping, Reva Sandals, Gameface.Ph and Nike Basketball.  Arthro fell to 2-4.

Arthro welcomed the return of University of the Visayas stalwarts Rino Berame and Michael Luga to their roster.  The UV tandem played key roles in Arthro’s annexation of the First Conference Visayas Division title earlier this year. 

However, the big crowd failed to see Gregory Slaughter after the 6-foot-11 Fil-Am center was not given permission by UV officials to join the team.