Toyota dethrones Tan Holdings

Toyota upset defending champion Tan Holdings Corp. 117-100 to annex the championship of the 2nd Annual Mobil Oil Invitational Co-ed Basketball Tournament last Saturday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

The automakers pounced on an overconfident Tan Holdings crew and established as much as a 26-point lead in the second half of the game before holding off a searing rally by the defending champions in the fourth quarter.

Tan Holdings, which played without center Colin Thompson, made a game of it in the opening quarter and trailed by only 5 points, 27-22, going into second canto.

Coach Abner Venus’ team, however, began to hum offensively in the second quarter as they time and again exploited Tan Holdings’ weakness on defense.

Without the 6-foot-5 shot blocking and rebounding menace, Toyota went to town and opened up its first double-digit lead when a free throw by youthful point guard Jerome Catalla made it 34-24 at the 7:56 mark of the second.

Toyota slowly pulled away from that point on and recorded its largest lead of the game at 52-26 with still about 3 minutes to go in the second quarter.

Even Toyota’s second stringers couldn’t seem to miss as John Capuyo made all of his 11 points and cage belle Shirley Santos scored her only points of the game to help the automakers to a 58-36 lead at halftime.

Tan Holdings forward Ronald Delos Reyes would miss his first shot in the second half, a point-blank miss from under the basket in the opening minutes of the third.

That, however, proved to be the only shot he would misfire on in the period as his 16-point flurry in the third quarter enabled his team to creep back into contention.

Teaming up with hotshot guard Jerry Zamora, the 6-foot-3 Delos Reyes spearheaded a furious Tan Holdings rally that cut down the lead to just 14, 78-64, going into the fourth and final quarter of the championship game.

In the fourth quarter, Bogs Dayrit took over where Delos Reyes left off as Tan Holdings came within 4 points of Toyota’s once imposing 26-point lead.

Dayrit would breath new life to the uprising scoring all but 4 of his 22 points in the final 10 minutes to keep the game close.

A breakaway basket by Delos Reyes with time down to 4:45 put Tan Holdings within 85-81 of the automakers.

But Tan Holdings assistant coach Ronnie Bayle was called for a technical after contesting a foul on Toyota’s George De Guzman, who went up for a basket, and the momentum swung back to the automakers’ favor.

Toyota went on to outscore Tan Holdings 32-19 after the technical on Bayle as De Guzman became unstoppable making 18 of his team-high 36 points in the final 5 minutes of the game.

“This was all team effort. We knew we didn’t stand a chance against Tan Holdings. But we just played well and the boys responded with a lot of positive energy,” said Venus after the game.

For his part, Tan Holdings coach Ambet Flores congratulated Toyota for the well-deserved win and vowed to come back with the vengeance next year.

“We lost to a more determined team. We just couldn’t make up the loss of Colin [Thompson]. Will try and regroup next year and get back the championship,” he said.

For his clutch performance down the stretch, De Guzman was awarded the Most Valuable Player trophy of the championship game.

Three other automakers finished with double figures as brothers Rodney and Jerome Catalla scored 23 and 21, respectively, and guards James Abadilles and Capuyo added 18 and 11.

Delos Reyes once again had a whale of a game for Tan Holdings as he torched the hoops with a game-high 40. Dayrit and Zamora also chipped in 22 and 20 markers in the losing cause.

Microl-Toyota 117 – De Guzman 36, R. Catalpa 23, J. Catalla 21, Abadilles 18, Capuyo 11, Rangamar 4, Masangkay 2, Santos 2.

Tan Holdings Corp. 100 – Delos Reyes 40, Dayrit 22, Zamora 20, Sarmiento 7, Lizo 6, Jinang 4, Andrew 1.