By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Guimaras Leopards clinched a much-needed bounce-back win against the veteran JKG Mamba squad, 97-84, in the 1st Mayor Stephen Palmares Pintados de Passi Open Invitational basketball tournament.
It was a nip-and-tuck first half affair after both teams traded firepower with threes raining down from all over the Passi city arena.
The high-scoring game went pouring on as the second quarter started but it came to a halt after JKG’s Andee Ticzon, who was red-hot the first 13 minutes of the game, came out due to a hand injury.
With their main scorer out, JKG then became stagnant offensively and allowed the momentum to swing Guimaras’ side.
The Leopards led 46-43 at the half but started to roll offensively at the start of the third after their set plays began to connect that made them pull-away bit by bit from JKG.
During the fourth quarter, the Guimaras guards put on a show after slicing through JKG’s defense at will for easy deuces or feeding their big men with well-timed passes.
