PAGADIAN, Zamboanga del Sur — Roxas played inspired basketball, nailing its first win at the expense of the debuting Kapatagan, 89-77, in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Mindanao Challenge at the Pagadian City gymnasium here.

With their lead down to just five, 77-72, the Vanguards unleashed a game-finishing 11-2 burst.

Cyrus Tabi started the run with a shot-clock beating floater before he alongside Marlon Monte and Nick Abanto buried three straight treys, 88-74, with less than a minute to go.

The victory put Roxas at 1-1, dedicating the win for its utility staff Gerry Cojuangco, who passed away early Sunday morning.

“Itong game na ito dine-dedicate namin kay Gerry Cojuangco,” said Roxas head coach Alvin Grey. “May mga lapses kami pero noong fourth quarter, gumana ‘yung trap defense namin.”

Marlon Monte went on a scoring spree, firing 27 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and a perfect 9-of-9 from the stripe. He also had five rebounds, five assists, and two steals.

Monte’s backcourt partner Cyrus Tabi also came up big with 19 points, six assists, and five rebounds, while Kentoy Segura was a spark off the bench with 13 points.

The debuting Buffalos was paced by Gayford Rodriguez with 18 points and eight rebounds.

Jonel Bonganciso had 11 points while Richard Kwong and Garexx Puerto combined for 20 points, 18 from the first half.

Kapatagan will dance with Zamboanga Sibugay tomorrow, 4 pm, for a chance to get in the win column.

Meanwhile, Globalport-MisOr nabbed its second win in as many days, tripping Zamboanga Sibugay, 77-69.

Reil Cervantes, Dahrrel Caranguian, and Brylle Meca joined hands, scoring 21 of MisOr’s 25 fourth quarter points.

Up by just three late in the game, Cervantes drained back-to-back baskets — the last one being a booming trey– to widen their margin to eight, 73-65, with 2:13 to go.

“It’s really a total team effort,” said Valientes head coach Vis Valencia.

“My 12 players, kami lang yata ang 12 and most of the teams have 20, responded well. I’m happy with the efforts.”

The scores:

First game

Roxas (89) – Monte 27, Tabi 19, Segura 13, Gimpayan 8, Dela Cruz 6, Basco 6, Mabigat 4, Abanto 3, Templo 2, Valin 1, Bonleon 0.
Kapatagan (77) – Rodriguez 18, Bonganciso 11, Kwong 10, Puerto 10, Lao 8, Ariar 6, Daanoy 5, Sala 2, Incio 2, Sollano 2, Saga 2, Regero 1.
Quarterscores: 30-19, 48-41, 64-59, 89-77.

Second game

MisOr (77) – Baracael 14, Cervantes 13, Meca 12, Estrella 7, Salcedo 6, Nalos 6, Caranguian 6, Ubalde 4, Ballesteros 4, Lee Yu 2, Gonzales 2, Agbong 1.
Zamboanga Sibugay (69) – Foronda 12, Camacho 11, Jamon 10, Imperial 10, Octobre 6, Reyes 5, Tayongtong 4, Caunan 4, Dumapig 1, Lacastesantos 0, Acain 0, Sorela 0.
Quarterscores: 19-24, 36-38, 52-53, 77-69.