CESK sweep Group B

THE Chop Eng Seng Keo (CESK) Pinoy Resources captured top spot in Group B of the 2009 Brunei Pepsi Cup after they defeated Team Wayne 'A' 82-67 yesterday at the Brunei Basketball Association court in Batu Bersurat.

Wawie Ebanez poured in 20 points and Jeff Paraiso contributed 19 points for CESK Pinoy Resources, who won all their three games.

Team Wayne 'A', winless after three outings, was led by Tan Ye Wei, who finished with 14 points.

The game was close in the beginning with CESK Pinoy Resources ending the first quarter at 19-14.

It was the same scenario in the second quarter where CESK Pinoy Resources, who enjoyed the height advantage, tried to keep their momentum to take a 37-30 advantage at the half.

The third quarter saw CESK Pinoy Resources extend their lead further with some good shooting by Ebanez contributing nine points for the period. They were playing good basketball penetrating Team Wayne 'A's defence for inside passes leading to easy finishing under the basket.

On the other hand, Team Wayne 'A' were making a handful of mistakes because of poor passing that led to fastbreaks by their opponents.

Towering centre of CESK Pinoy Resources at 6ft 5in, Efren Espiritu, gave Team Wayne 'A' a headache as he controlled the boards.

Team Wayne 'A' made several attempts to score in the third quarter but they missed easy shots and entered the fourth quarter behind 45-58.

The fourth quarter was no different as Team Wayne 'A' seemed to have given up halfway through the period where they trailed 69-52 using all their substitutes.

Espiritu delighted the crowd by making a reverse dunk with less than a minute remaining in the game.

"I'm happy that the team is playing better compared to our first two games but I do believe that we can do better if we would have another point guard on our team," said Arnel Caringal, assistant coach of CESK Pinoy Resources.

"We're positive that we can make it into the semifinals having advanced into the next round," added Caringal.

When asked on what was his strategy is for the next round, Caringal replied, "We are planning to at least have one practice session but the problem is to find a venue to play. We're still short of a proper point guard but we should be fine."

Earlier, Chua Auto Mobile notched their first victory by stamping their class over Gadong Boy 78-44 in Group A.

Captain Wong Ha Shiong led Chua Auto Mobile with 18 points while Chen Wee Nien contributed 12 points.

On the other hand, Zaldy Umandap and Kris Serrano each contributed 14 points for Gadong Boy, who absorbed their third straight loss.

Meanwhile, Auto Jaya take on De'Lightz Coffee Shop at 7pm today. Both are winless in Group D.

In the other game, Team Wayne 'B' seeks their first win against Urban Chic at 8.30pm in Group C.

Urban Chic is coming off a 57-78 loss to Bukit Ladang last Sunday.

The Brunei Times