MANILA, Philippines – Christmas came early for SCMC as the team earned a winning gift a week before Christmas day by defeating Factset, 76-70, on Sunday, December 18 at Asia Pacific College in Makati City.
Robbie Salamat, who came off the bench and played for over 28 minutes on the court, served as the anchor of SCMC by firing away 16 points to go along with three rebounds, four assists and one steal.
Salamat had a solid supporting cast on the offensive end as three starters of SCMC were in double scoring figures. Russell Parala pitched in 15 markers to strengthen the campaign to barge into the winner’s column.
Ramon De Leon also stepped up for SCMC by delivering 12 points, while Vicson Pajimola mustered ten markers to compliment his eight boards.
Despite yielding to SCMC, Factset did not go down without a fight as Ivan Belsa scorched the basket with his 21-point production.
However, it was not enough to place Factset on the winning track as the squad’s desperate fourth-quarter rally was spoiled by SCMC.
In the other game, HPE pulled off a surprising victory over league darling Accenture, 70-60, with second stringers Joseph Nery and Jay Anzures manning the offense.
Nery and Anzures finished with 16 and 14 points respectively, while starting small forward Algene Dela Paz contributed 10 markers to the triumph over Accenture.
