Sports Eye
Urdaneta, Anda, Sto. Tomas quintets remain unbeaten
By Jesus A.
Garcia Jr.
AFTER six days of skirmishes, win-loss records of three teams in their
respective brackets remain untarnished in the ongoing 4th Governor’s
Cup Pangasinan Inter-Town/City Basketball Tournament being conducted in a
home-and-away format. Led by defending champion Urdaneta City, the perennial
eastern Pangasinan team titlist showed anew its superiority and supremacy last
November 16 by whipping the league’s three-time first runner-up and arch-rival
Manaoag during their first game of this season, 93-81. The Urdaneta quintet
continued their unrelenting wins in subsequent weeks by stopping the surging
Bayambang squad, 99-96, repulsed Bautista, 86-79, crushed Malasiqui, 87-76, and
overwhelmed my town Mangaldan, 117-103, in the Central Conference group.
Unexpectedly, the Western Conference produced results that even this writer
could hardly believe. The unheralded Anda five after their poor performances in
the first three editions of the league, is now a team to reckon with by first routing
Labrador, 79-66, plastered title contender Alaminos City, 79-57, walloped the
league’s first edition champion Binmaley, 103-68, subdued second season winner
Lingayen, 87-80, and as expected, clobbered the hapless Basista, 101-71.
As of this writing (December 5), the complete results of the games in the
Eastern Conference side are still unavailable, but the team standing as of
December 1 was already released with Sto. Tomas leading the pack of ten teams with
five wins, no loss.
Hostilities continue on December 7 and 8 in different venues with five
scheduled games each day starting at 8:00 a.m. Bautista hosts the Central
Conference side, Mabini in the Western Conference while Asingan accommodates
the Eastern Conference.
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As I write this piece, the winner-takes-all basketball championship match between Builders and Medics and the battle for third place between Urduja and Generals of the 4th POGI (Pagalaw tan Olopan ed Gobyerno Itanduro 2019) is in progress at Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center (NRSCC) gym in Lingayen.
I watched the semis and finals of the annual tourney on December 3 and 5 where the Builders repulsed the Generals, 112-108, and the Medics thumped Urduja, 99-89, in the semis. The two games in the finals turned out to be close battles with multiple deadlocks that saw the Urduja team spearheaded by Gov. Amado “Pogi” Espino, III subduing the Generals, 111-103 to notch the 2nd runner-up plum. The Builders wounded the Medics, 109-104, to win the coveted title.
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Meanwhile, the two-day 11th Gov. Amado Espino Cup Open Chess Championship slated on December 7 and 8 will be conducted at the Pangasinan Training and Development Center Capitol Complex in Lingayen. Organized by Pangasinan Sports Development and Management Council in cooperation with the Pangasinan Chess League (PCL) headed by Juan Sison and the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP). PCL Secretary General German C. Francisco said the two-day battle-of-the brain tournament will run in two categories, the Open and Kiddie (14 and under) with cash prizes and medals up for grab. Special cash prizes are also at stake for the top female player (2k), top senior (60 years old participant, 2k), top scorer (5 years old and below, 1k) and youngest participant (1k). See you there.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: And the Lord God said to Mary, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call his name Jesus. LUKE 1: 31
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