Nangka, Cantila start hot in Consolacion Fiesta hoop

CEBU, Philippines - Teams Nangka and Cantila got off to flying starts in the 2009 Consolacion Fiesta Basketball Tournament at the Consolacion Sports Complex.

Nangka banked on a furious opening assault to crush Tolo-tolo, 81-55, in the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) division, while Cantila, manned by players from barangays Cansaga, Tilhaong and Lamag, also had little trouble in pulling off a 52-37 rout of D’Popedmaro, which is composed of barangays Pulpogan, Poblacion Oriental and Danlag, in the Association of Barangay Council (ABC) category.

RR Najarro charted 31 points for Nangka, which did not give Tolo-tolo any breathing space after kicking off the game with a 28-11 bang.

Nangka maintained a 17-points edge at halftime, 38-21, before further blowing the game apart with an imposing 36-point bulge, 64-28, going into the final 10 minutes of the contest.

 Cantila, on the other hand, also kept D’Popedmaro at bay since jumping off to a sizzling 18-7 start. They closed the first half with a 29-17 edge and then padded it to 15 points, 42-27, at the end of the third quarter.

In the other SK division match, Sacsac escaped with a 58-53 victory over Tilhaong to serve early notice of its serious title campaign.

Sacsac trailed by six points after the first period, 6-12, but staged a daring third quarter rally to wrest the driver’s seat, 38-36, for good.

The two-month tilt, which is among the highlights of the annual town fiesta of Consolacion next month, is jointly organized by ABC president Analee Gungob and SK Federation chairperson Madel Hyacinth Herrera of Brgy. Pitogo. – EBV (THE FREEMAN)