Uniwheels draws first blood against DPWH in Dinagyang Basketball finals

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The Uniwheels Cars Display spoiled DPWH’s week-long break after trouncing them in Game 1 of the Mayor Jerry P. Treñas Dinagyang Basketball Cup, 104-93.

Hundreds of Ilonggo basketball fans trooped to Jaro Gym and witnessed the action-packed finals match between the top two teams of the tournament.

It didn’t take long for DPWH’s Jeff Manday to make his presence felt in the game after dazzling the Ilonggo crowd with his ball-handling skills and scoring touch.

Michael Balbarada then added more firepower for DPWH as he outworked Mark Ceniza and Chris Loyola early on in the post for some easy deuces to help edge Uniwheels at the half, 51-46.

In the third, Uniwheels began to get more physical and peskier on the defensive end, courtesy of their import Prince Eze who towered in the paint to swat every DPWH attempt that went his way.

Uniwheels’ effort on the defensive fueled their offense as they converted breakaway layups and easy scores on secondary break opportunities.

It was a game of runs that had both teams build double digit leads only to be erased by the other.

However, it was a different story in the final 5 minutes as things began to quickly shift to Uniwheels’ favor after they made it a point to dump the ball to Eze and let him bully his way to easy baskets.

Uniwheels would go on to a 19-10 run in the last five minutes of the ball game with main gunner Pusoy Arenal heating up in the clutch.