MJAS Zenith-Talisay City sustained its rampage, humbling Dumaguete 77-66 Tuesday night for its ninth straight win in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup at the Alcantara Civic Center in Cebu.
Having clinched a semis berth, Talisay City is now looking to complete a sweep of the double round-robin eliminations, with only the ARQ Builders Lapu-Lapu City standing in their way today at 3 p.m.
“Hindi namin iniisip ‘yung sweep. One game at a time pa rin ‘yung approach namin,” said Aquastars coach Aldrin Morante.
With new coach Leode Garcia at the helm, Dumaguete looked rejuvenated and kept in step with the league-leaders, trailing by just three 13-16 after the first period.
But Talisay went on a vicious 18-3 attack sparked by Egie Boy Mojica, Darrell Menina, and Allan Santos that pushed the Aquastars in front 34-16.
From there, the rout was on as the Aquastars padded the lead to a high of 29 before Dumaguete outscored Talisay 28-13 in the final frame to make the final score a more respectable one.
Forward Jaymar Gimpayan continued his stellar showing, piling up a double-double of 14 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, a block, and a steal. Big man Jhaymo Eguilos was also productive despite playing limited minutes as he tallied 11 points, seven boards, two assists, and two steals.
Ronald Roy led Dumaguete with 17 points spiked by five triples. However, the rest of the team shot poorly from the field, making just 30-percent of their attempts.
The Warriors’ vaunted backcourt of Jaybie Mantilla and James Regalado struggled to make their shots, combining to miss 21 of 26 attempts. Mark Doligon was just as terrible, missing 12 of his 15 attempts.
