Hercor sets-up finals clash with TJ Cong in ODM pre-Sinadya Basketball Cup

By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

After a two-day action-packed semifinals series in the 2019 ODM pre-Sinadya Basketball Cup, the mighty Hercor Jaguars took down their rival CPU Golden Lions and the powerhouse TJ Cong Tawi squad imposed their dominance against Rovil Autohub.

With the outcome, the young and surging Jaguars will try to maintain their consistent performance against the veteran TJ team who are just playing a superb brand of basketball.

During the semis, TJ just cruised through Rovil with a more organized offensive flow and relentless defense underneath with the likes of Nilo Catimbang, May Parohinog, Michael Balbarada, and Bong Talimay, all well-known basketball stars in the whole Region VI, swatting away Rovil’s shots.

Rovil also lacked the firepower and the depth to withstand TJ’s offensive guards, with shifty point Anel Aman getting to the cup as much as he wanted and former number 16 juniors ranked player by the NBTC in the whole PH, Dan Arches of Roxas, torching them from rainbow country.

Too dominant, the TJ squad swept Rovil, 2-0, 97-82 in the first game, and 92-83 in the second game.

The next series featured a rivalry game between two squads who previously met in the recently concluded 2019 UNIGAMES.

This time playing in their hometown, the Hercor Jaguars did not let their fans down by sweeping the CPU Golden Lions, 2-0, in one of the best basketball matches Roxas City has ever witnessed.

With the addition of Mon Lustria in their lineup, the Jaguars were able to match CPU’s firepower, the thing they lacked the past UNIGAMES that enabled CPU to run over them in the second half.

The most anticipated match up, the Lustria-Rey Tupas clash was finally seen and it kept fans up on their feet with both players trading baskets at some point and displaying dazzling handles that impressed the Civic Center.

Both games, CPU only lost by two points, all cost by missed crucial free throws that would have sent the games into overtime.

The thing that stood out the most with Hercor was their post presence both defensively and offensively, a big improvement from their UNIGAMES stint.

IC Gasacao and Joshua Maquiling of the Jaguars were able to man the shaded area and made it hard for the Golden Lions to penetrate easily with their length, size, and athleticism.

Julius David also played a key role for the Jaguars, sinking timely baskets during game two and draining clutch free throws.

101-99 was the score in the first game, and 90-88 the next, with Lustria and David winning player of the game honors scoring 32 and 19 respectively.

The pre-Sinadya Cup finals’ first game between the TJ Cong team and the Jaguars will be on November 30, 2019, and Game 2 will be on December 1, 2019.