ILIGAN CITY – Pre-season favorite Iligan lived up to its billing Saturday by whipping expansion team North Cotabato, 96-78, in the 2006 NBC national basketball championship at the packed MSU-IIT gym here.
The Firefly Lightings-backed Crusaders of Mayor Lawrence Cruz and team manager Freddie Siao led from start to finish, but they needed a league record 36-point quarter in the payoff period to turn the game into a rout.
Former UST Tiger Derrick Hubalde and ex-Laguna playmaker Marlon Kalaw combined for 13 points to spark that record binge in the last 10 minutes and hold off Gov. Manny Piñol’s Braves, who rallied to within a basket, 58-60, behind the incursions of Michael Etrata, Rex Ligue and Jerold Cabanog.
After the explosion of Hubalde, who finished with 21 points, six rebounds and seven assists, and eventual player of the game Kalaw, the Crusaders pulled away for good.
With their first victory, the Crusaders matched the 1-0 card of Valencia Golden Harvest, which nipped Pagadian in Friday’s southern division opener in Pagadian City.
Spring Cooking Oil-Parañaque and Batang Tagaytay also carry 1-0 slates in the northern division of the tourney sponsored by Panasonic, Sulpicio Lines, Nature’s Spring Mineral Water, Spring Cooking Oil, Regent Foods, Firefly Lightings, Molten and Prime Channel.
"The boys were fun to watch on the court,’’ said Iligan coach Jun Longalong. "They followed our game plan on the letter. The crowd’s support was quite overwhelming, too.’’
NBC games are aired at 10 p.m. daily over Prime Channel.
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