Daniel hoists 2008 Genesis Cup

Daniel received an early Christmas gift when it claimed the championship trophy that eluded the team last year following a 92-76 win over Isaiah in the finals of the CIM-FCC Inter-Color Basketball League-3rd Genesis Cup Saturday night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Daniel won last year’s pennant and was favored to take the championship against Jeremiah, but the latter pulled off a 105-84 upset to reign supreme in the 2007 edition of the annual league.

Against Isaiah in last weekend’s finals, Daniel made sure the title would not slip from its hands, again shutting out the former in the last two minutes, 33 seconds of the fourth quarter and drawing straight baskets from Darwin Barbo to hoist the Genesis Cup crown.

After Isaiah cut Daniel’s 11-point lead (80-69) to four, 76-80, on Jeremy Tamayo’s seven straight points, Daniel coach Noel Puno pressed the panic button, with 2:33 left on the clock.

When play resumed, Tamayo stepped up to the free throw area, as he made his last basket while also drawing a foul from Sonny Ranola.

Tamayo missed the bonus shot, but James Wabinga collared the offensive board and was fouled on his way to the basket. Wabinga also had no luck from the 15-foot line muffing his two charities.

Isaiah spent the remaining two minutes of the game missing shots and committing errors with Jun Tabora mostly the culprit of those botched plays, while Barbo made crucial baskets that allowed Daniel to pull away.

Barbo started his barrage of points with a split free throw after a broken play from Isaiah, which saw Tabora spinning inside and losing the ball against the tight defense of Mike Umali.

After Barbo missed his second charity, Brendo Talania grabbed the offensive board, passed it to Ranola, who made a bounced pass to Barbo for an underneath basket deuce.

Tabora missed another attempt at the basket and although Isaiah took the rebound, it failed to score when Tamayo also muffed his triple resulting in a Daniel fastbreak play with Ranola feeding Barbo, anew for an easy layup.

Going into the last minute of the game, Daniel was ahead, 85-76, and Tabora tried to cut the lead to seven, but he was called for an offensive foul while trying to penetrate inside.

In the ensuing play, Barbo was fouled by Wabinga and the former brought Daniel’s lead back to double digits after canning both charities, 87-76, with 53.4 seconds left on the clock.

Tabora ended his and Isaiah’s frustrating night with another error when he drove to the middle and drew two defenders on him before deciding to kick the ball out to Tamayo, who was cutting from the wing and failed to catch the pass.

Daniel played in the title game without its main gunner—Elmer Esdrelon. But the newly-minted champion had Mike Umali stepping up to fill the void left by Esrelon on Daniel’s offense.

Umali had a game-high 24 points waxing hot in the third quarter with 15 points and helping Daniel took a 67-54 lead midway in that canto after the game ended in a tie at halftime, 42-all. The Daniel point guard was later named Finals MVP, while Esdrelon took the regular season MVP honors.

Three other Daniel players finished in double figures with Ranola adding 18 and Barbo and Lauron chipping in 17 and 10 markers, respectively.

Tamayo led Isaiah’s losing cause hitting 19 points, while Wabinga contributed 18. Tabora nailed 17, but had only two points in the fourth period. Jun Pantaleon scored 15.