CEBU, Philippines - GCM Merchandise ’98-B and First Family Appliance ’87/94 booted out separate foes in convincing fashion to breeze through the semifinal round of the Cebu Eastern College Alumni Basketball Association’s 11th Dr. Chen Lieh Fu Memorial Cup on Tuesday night at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym.
Class ’98-B sent its sister-team MFL Mini-Mart ’98-A into a timely summer vacation with a 72-57 rout, while Class ’87/94 did the same to Gregoria’s Curtains and Trim Haus ’89/93 via a 58-43 demolition.
Elvis Evangelista pumped in 20 points and Leovigildo Yu added 18 markers for Class ’98-B, which banked on a blistering second-quarter assault to turn the tables on Class ’98-A.
Class ’98-B trailed by five points at the end of the first period, 17-22, but countered with a searing 21-7 rally to wrest the driver’s lead at halftime, 38-29, for good.
From there, Class ’98-B never looked back and closed the game with a 19-11 bang for the 15-point romp. Robinson Yap added 13 points followed by Jed Lawrence Co with 11 for the GCM Merchandise-backed squad.
Erick Andrew So paced Class ’98-A with 19 points followed by Rex Millan with 19 markers.
While Class ’98-B struggled in the first quarter, Class ’87/94 relied on a powerful opening bomb to elbow out Class ’89/93.
Henrich Chua and Bronson Peña stoked the early offensive fire, conspiring for 19 points as Class ’89/93 rattled Class ’89/93 with a 23-3 bang in the first 10 minutes of play. The rest, they say, was history. Chua finished with 18 points.
Edwin Ong had 20 points for Class ’89/93, while Ramir Tan scored 12 in a losing cause.
The scores
First game
Class ’98-B (72) - Evangelista 20, Yu 18, Yap 13, Co 11, Escoton 8, Plaza 2
Class ’98-A (57) - E. So 19, Millan 17, P. So 9, Sy 7, Lim 4, Tan 1
Second game
Class ’87/94 (58) - H. Chua 18, Kwan 10, Peña 8, W. Yu 7, Gaw 6, Lim 5, Beldeniza 2, Jao 2
Class ’89/93 (43) - Ong 20, Tan 12, Bejer 6, Tiu 2, Chu 2, Ting 1. – EBV (THE FREEMAN)