Cebuanos shut out p.27
Nets win again p.29
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n JOBANNIE C. TABADA Editor
SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2004
SYNCHRONIZED RIVALRY. Diane Cañeda (right) of Cebu City and Silliman’s Lourdes Diones battle for the 100-meter Backstroke gold. Diones won by a little over a second over Cañeda. (SUN.STAR FOTO/AMPER CAMPAÑA)
MISSION COMPLETE Cebu City bags overall championship BY JADE S. VIOLETA Sun.Star Staff Reporter
H
OST Team Cebu City (TCC) successfully defended its turf against the raging Team Iligan City (TIC) after the Cebuano tankers made 21 first-place finishes in yesterday’s final day of the 1st Cebu City National Invitational Swimming Championships to cop the overall crown at the Cebu City Sports Center. Jonathan Guardo’s optimism after Guardo earlier predicted a good performance by Team
TOP 10 STANDINGS (Point system) Team Cebu City Iligan City Coastland Davao Silliman Bacolod-Sta.Fe
Points 832.50 766.50 341 335 297
Team Points UC Varsity 252.50 Bag-ong Ozamisnon 245 Panaad Manta Rays 180.50 Aquarius-Iloilo 180 Bohol Dolphins 130
Cebu City-Swimming. After being surprised by Team Iligan City swimmers in the first day of action, the Cebuanos bounced back with vengeance as they garnered an overall total score of 832.50 (the tournament utilized the point system to determine the team rankings) to steal the thunder from Team Iligan City. CLOSE-UP. Jose Joaquin Gonzalez of Coastland Davao, one of the event’s multi-gold medalists, p. 26 submerges as he competes in the 50m Breaststroke. (SUN.STAR FOTO/ALEX BADAYOS) t
Team Cebu City’s victory validated Cebu City Sports Commission chairman
Gin Kings notch Fiesta Cup’s first victory Sun.Star Correspondent
The Ginebra Gin Kings proved to be a major source of dissapointment for Richard Alvarez and the rest of the Shell Turbochargers. The Ginebra Gin Kings banked on a blazing start and a strong finish to defeat
the Shell Turbo Chargers 90-81 in the opening game of the PBA Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum Sunday night. Eric Menk, who did the most damage for Ginebra, scored 20 points, ripped down 11 rebounds, and thoroughly dominated the shaded lane against the Shell frontline, which,
strangely, missed the play of Alvarez. Alvarez, the leaugue’s No. 1 draft pick this year and thought to be the answer to Shell’s woeful inside game, missed the entire ballgame as new Shell coach John Moran opted to sit him down. Even without its top rookie, the Turbochargers,
after trailing 20-27 the Gin Kings in the first quarter, came alive in the second quarter and managed to wrest the lead from the Gin Kings at the four-minute mark of the third quarter after a transition basket by rookie Kalani Ferrerria that made the score 45-44 for Shell. The gritty Gin Kings, however, retaliated imme-
diately and furiously engaged in a two -way warfare against Shell until the eight- minute mark of the period. From that point on, it was all Ginebra. The Gin Kings, on the strength of the 6 foot-6 Menk, 6-5 Rommel Adducul, 6-8 Andy Seigle, and 63 import Rosell Ellis, then
established an iron-handed form of board dominance and unleashed a torrid, pell-mell pace that enabled it to end the quarter on top at 65-62. Things got worse for Shell In the final period, as the Gin Kings again pounced on them with a helter- skelter pace and
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BY GLENN C. MICHELENA