Flores shines in Bangus’ come-from-behind victory; Satorp, Hummer triumph

Exciting rookie player Gino Flores wowed the crowd with his entertaining brand of basketball to lead Bangus Restaurant to a 79-68 come-from-behind victory over favored Al Mouwasat Friday in the 15th UFBF Open Basketball Tourment at Al Qadisia sports gymnasium.
Getting a big lift from starting playmaker Michael Juanite and lefty Noel Almodovar, Mouwasat dominated Bangus in the first half, 16-13, 37-32; and again in the third quarter 55-48 before falling apart in the last canto.
Juanite, who was 1-of-7 in the three-point territory, still top-scored for Mouwasat with 21 points while Almodovar and Herbert Catapang each had 10 points apiece while former Liga Pilipinas cager and 6-foot-4 Alain Musni, was hardly a factor in the shaded area and finished with 8 markers and 6 rebounds.
Down by 9 in the closing seconds of the third quarter, Bangus imposed its strength in the last canto with a 9-4 spurt cutting the deficit to just 2, 57-59, with 7:37 on the clock.
With his crisp passes and near-pefect perimeter shooting and fearless attacks, Flores scored 4 straight points and Jay-R Villareal’s underneath basket knotted the game at 59-59 all, then again baskets from Flores, Jhong Patanao and Jonathan Cardona put Bangus ahead at 71-64 with 3:28 to go.
Catapang responded with a short stab and Ramil Zarandin and Musni’s split charities made it a one-possession game at 71-68, exactly 2 minutes remaining.
Two Bangus errors enabled Mouwasat to tie the game but missed a potential go-ahead when the sneaking Almodovar missed 2 easy lay-ups. Bangus’ Flores and Caldona then scored successive baskets to settle the final score.
The 5-foot-7 Flores led all scorers with 35 points, had 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 6 assists for Bangus. Cardona had 14, Jay-R Villareal 8 while Mansoor, Jay Absen Pineda and Patano combined for 19 points.
Rene Madayag’s Satorp-Molave scored another convincing 77-72 victory over FOWA.
After struggling to get their game going in the first 20 minutes, Satorp unleashed its full might at the beginning of third period behind back-to-back MVP Mark Vergara, Erwin Solomon, Edgar Palacpac and Ireneo Racacho who sparked a 10-4 run in an impressive finish against the hard-fighting squad of Carmelo Ayunon.
Vergara finished with a game-high 26 points, 9 of them in the final quarter, while Racacho and Alfred De Gracia had 13 and 11, and at least seven points each from Boogie Patino and Solomon to help Satorp keep its solo lead at 2-0 in Junior D-4.
The Hummer of coach Rommel Dela Cruz scored an 83-78 win over last season’s semifinalist Centerpoint in Junior D5-A.
The muscled power forward Win Mangulabnan led his team with 29 points to put to naught Ryan Domingo’s 40 markers including 21 points in the last quarter for Centerpoint.
Domingo failed to get enough support from his teammates who just managed a single digit score. In contrast, Mangulabnan was ably backed by his teammates – Brian Rosales and Ian Java who each had 16 points.
Other game results: Dammam Spartan overpowered KFMC-MODA, 75-56, Rawabi beat Al Hoty Stanger, 84-71 in Inter-company Group A, Nesma & Partners defeated Saipem, 91-87 in Inter-Company Group B, Dammam Pirates edged Tropang Dammam, 83-82, and SAAD Mechanical beat DHL 97-87 in Inter-Company Group B.