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| Sinag Liga Asya |
The newest basketball league in the country kicked off on Saturday afternoon at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center, with the Sinag Liga Asya holding its Born 2001 Cup.
Eleven teams are set to participate in this competition, which is run by the same group who previously handled the Pilipinas Super League.
Chairman Rocky Chan shares, "We're just so excited for the SLA. It's a fresh start but it's the same old group, same old teams that we have. We also have our former commissioner and now chief operations officer coach Leo Isaac, who will run the show on the basketball operations side. We're so excited with the inaugural conference of the Sinag Liga Asya Born 2001 Cup."
He adds, "We have 11 teams here in Luzon, we have eight teams in Mindanao and in Visayas. Masaya kami that we are able to give opportunity sa mga bata na tuparin iyong mga pangarap nila,"
Teams in the Luzon leg will play a single round-robin, with eight teams advancing into the quarterfinals. The top four teams will earn a twice-to-beat advantage, with the semifinals and final being true one-game-knockout matchups.
To celebrate the start of the leg, a tripleheader served as its opener, which saw both Pampanga-based teams secure contrasting victories.
Luid One Kapampangan held on to a 73-70 victory over LDG San Pedro in the first match of the day, which saw CJ Buitison score a game-high 26 points. He also added three rebounds, three assists, a block, and six steals. IC Dauting was the only other player in double figures with eleven points, while also contributing three rebounds, a couple of steals, and a block.
In contrast, Pampanga Delta demolished Antipolo Pilgrims LEAP, 101-50. With Governor Dennis Pineda watching the nightcap, his wards ruthlessly took care of business of their overmatched visitors, putting them away in the second quarter with a 20-8 bomb.
The Pilgrims could not do anything about their opposition, allowing the Delta to score 28 and 29 points in the final two periods, while only mustering a combined total of 26 points in the second half.
Jun Roque led the way with seventeen points, four rebounds, an assist, and a block, while incoming DLSU standout Jonnel Policarpio added sixteen points, four rebounds, four assists, and a steal.
Justine Bautista chipped in fifteen for the Delta with four steals, while Carlo Ferreras was the fourth player in double figures with eleven markers.
The third match saw Laguna DatzLav-EOZ Construction use a fourth quarter burst to escape with a 70-63 victory over HUSTLE Rising Suns.
Trailing 57-50 after a Dave Ollero basket with 6:38 remaining, DatzLav scored six straight points to make is a one-point game at 57-56 with 2:58 to go. Vincent Canlas scored a few seconds later to restore a three-point lead. Glenn Madiz answered with a couple of buckets to make it 61-60 with 79 seconds to go.
Laguna would take the lead for good at 62-61 with 48 seconds left off a Marvin Mirondo jumper. Free throws by Mhickael Pontanoza and Madiz make it a two-possession game at 65-61 at the 25 second mark, with Jean Brent Layug scored what turned out to be HUSTLE's final points of the game with 21 seconds remaining. An and-1 from Mirondo restored the two-possession lead, and although he missed the free throw, he made up for it by forcing a turnover on the ensuing possession.
A split from Pontanoza and a layup from Renz Conde capped off the comeback for the squad.
Pontanoza ended up with a game-high fourteen points, seven rebounds, a couple of assists, a block, and four steals. Madiz added a double-double with twelve points and ten boards, as well as a couple of assists and steals.
The Sinag Liga Asya Born 2001 Cup is presented by Converge, and supported by Foton, JProject, Royce Hotel, Sunsport, Bluesky Advertising, Finn Cotton, WCube Solutions, and SCD.
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