The Roxas Vanguards completed the largest comeback in VisMin Cup history as they rallied from a 23-point fourth period deficit to foil the Globalport-MisOr, 90-87, in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup, on Tuesday evening at the Pagadian City Gymnasium.
The win—the Vanguards’ third in a row—pushed them to a three-way tie for the lead in the standings at 4-2 (win-loss). The victory, though, was far from easy as Roxas faced a 78-55 deficit with 9:27 left in the game.
The Vanguards then uncorked a 27-6 blast, capped by James Martinez’s fastbreak layup, to close the gap to just two, 82-84, with 1:57 to go. After a series of empty possessions, MisOr’s Reil Cervantes found himself open underneath off a broken play to extend their lead to four, 86-82, with 40.6 ticks left.
But Roxas’ Kentoy Segura retaliated with a top-of-the-key trey off the inbound to inch within one. On the ensuing play, Cervantes was fouled and sent to the line where he split his charities with 25 seconds left, 87-85.
On the other end, Vanguard Marlon Monte failed to find a teammate on the inbound to give the Valientes the possession. But the pressing defense of Roxas came to play as Jaymar Gimpayan stole Joseph Nalos’ pass and dished it out to Segura, who calmly drained a triple from the left wing to give his side the lead for good, 88-87, with 15.5 seconds left.
With a chance to regain the lead for MisOr, Joel Lee Yu penetrated the basket but his kick-out pass was intercepted by Cyrus Tabi resulting in Monte’s freebies on the other end.
Monte missed both his shots from the stripe but Gimpayan was there for the stickback as Lee Yu missed his three-pointer to give the Vanguards the emotional win.
Visayas Leg MVP Gimpayan had his best game in Roxas uniform with 23 points, 10 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks, while Segura chipped in 18 points.
Mario Bonleon got a near double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Lee Yu led MisOr with 23 points and seven rebounds but also committed seven turnovers. Cervantes registered 11 points and 13 rebounds as the Valientes went down to 3-3, tied with Basilan for fourth.
The Scores:
Roxas 90 – Gimpayan 23, Segura 18, Bonleon 14, Martinez 7, Monte 7, Basco 6, Valin 6, Tabi 4, Abanto 3, Solatorio 2, Mabigat 0, Dela Cruz 0, Adante 0.
MisOr 87 – Lee Yu 23, Cervantes 11, Salcedo 11, Baracael 9, Ubalde 8, Nalos 6, Meca 4, Estrella 4, Ballesteros 3, Caranguian 3, Agbong 3, Bernardo 2, Gonzales 0.
Quarterscores: 7-15, 26-43, 55-76, 90-87.
