MANILA – Basilan moved to within a win from completing the domination of the Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Mindanao leg after mauling Roxas, 81-69, in Game 1 of the best-of-three conference finals at the Pagadian City Gymnasium.
Moments after Hesed Gabo won the Mindanao leg’s Most Valuable Player award, his backup, Chris Bitoon, took over for the Peace Riders in the opener of their best-of-three series against the Vanguards as they remained sharp despite sitting out for 10 days as a reward for going 8-0 in the eliminations and forcing a stepladder playoff format that their opponents had to survive to enter the finals.
Basilan quickly raced to a double-digit spread even as their bench players led by Bitoon provided huge contributions to stomp their class over a struggling Roxas squad.
"I'm just happy we followed the game plan. Kahit na nagkaroon kami ng long break, nakita naman dito na (Even if we had a long break, it can be seen here that) we have fresher legs than them so we just kept on pressuring from start to finish," Peace Riders head coach Jerson Cabiltes said.
Bitoon finished with 20 points on 4-for-6 shooting from beyond the arc for Basilan, who can finish a 2-0 sweep of the finals--and a full 10-0 sweep of the Mindanao leg--on Monday night.
Michael Mabulac, who joined Gabo in the Mythical Team, added 12 points, six rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
While relatively quiet all night long, Gabo still played decently, making 10 points, three rebounds, three assists, four steals, and one block.
Earlier in the night, Gabo, who averaged 10.3 points, 7.4 assists, and 3.3 rebounds a game during the regular season, received the MVP award from Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup chief operating officer Rocky Chan.
"Unang-una, salamat sa Panginoon na nandito kami ngayon sa Finals. Salamat din sa teammates ko saka sa coaches ko (First of all, thank You, Lord, that we are now here in the Finals. I would also like to thank my teammates and coaches)," Gabo said.
Chito Jaime and Leo Najorda each tallied 16 markers for Roxas, which now needs to beat Basilan in Game 2 to force a rubber match on Tuesday night.
James Castro, who is also part of the Mythical Team, was held to only six points on 1-of-6 field goals and committed four turnovers even as he had to play through foul trouble.
Completing the Mythical Team are former Philippine Basketball Association veterans John Wilson of Clarin and Jerwin Gaco of Zamboanga City. (PNA)
