By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Team Ford x Medal emerged as the kings of the LEPRECHAUNS x TUNESQUAD hoops league second conference after sweeping team ODM/DOIS during their championship series held at the Hacienda Vierde basketball gym in Pavia, Iloilo.
The dominant roster of Team Ford pulled off an exclamation win during Game 2, garnering a lopsided 95-77 victory to seal the deal and complete the tremendous campaign.
After facing a banged-up ODM/DOIS in the first game that played without some key players, the runners-up looked to exact revenge as the presence of Inno Miclat and Joshua Mana-ay boosted their chances of leveling the series.
However, Ford’s versatile big men duo of Mark Hermano and Jefferson Panisales did the work underneath and dominated the shaded lane.
Miclat, ODM’s lethal shooter and scorer, provided some spark during the second and third sets and helped them trim their deficit to just a single digit but Ford weathered the storm and continued to pummel the paint to protect their lead.
Another Miclat scoring spree kept ODM’s hopes alive but a counter rally from Ford’s balanced scoring helped them kick off the final set with a huge scoring run that ballooned their lead to 14 points.
From that sequence, ODM failed to get close to as much as five points and could only watch Ford stamp their class in the paint.
Panisales was recognized as the Best Player of the Game after tallying an all-around performance of 19 points, 12 rebounds, and four blocks.
“Gapasalamat gd kami sa tanan nga teams nga nag join sa last conference sang 2024. Congratulations to team Ford, to team ODM, and the other clubs nga nag hatag kasadya sa aton Ilonggo basketball scene,” said Mr. Latter Taasan, the commissioner of the league.
LEPRECHAUNS x TUNESQUAD is headed by Mr. Harold Demaciado, the organization’s president, supported by Glenn Jimenea, Wilhem Puljanan, Majed Alarcon, JL Bautista, Noli Jimenez, Joebz Garcia III, Patrick Huyan, and Jan Michael Supetran.
