WITH Shane Menina leading the way, MJAS Zenith-Talisay City pulled off an 81-73 victory over KCS Computer Specialist-Mandaue to stay unbeaten in eight games in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup on Saturday at the Alcantara Civic Center in Cebu.
Menina, a former standout of the University of Cebu, scored 25 of his 28 points in the second half and gave Talisay City the energy that it needed when it fell behind 40-47 at the 4:57 mark of the third canto.
Menina canned two straight triples, a layup and then issued an assist to Jaymar Gimpayan as the Aquastars moved in front 50-47. The Aquastars finished the third with an 18-2 run to head to the last canto in front by nine 58-49.
In the other game, ARQ Builders Lapu-Lapu beat 76-62 to ends its two-game losing run.
Losers of two straight in the second round and four of their last five, including a 66-75 setback to KCS-Mandaue on Friday night, the Heroes evened their record to 4-4, good for solo third.
“Kilala naman nating lahat si Shane, puputok at puputok ‘yan. It was only a matter of time,” said Aquastars coach Aldrin Morante of Menina, who averaged a measly 4.6 points before the game.
Mandaue pulled to within five 57-62 after a triple by reserve guard Steve Castro but the 6-foot Menina continued his scoring binge, scoring 10 of Talisay City’s next 12 points to push them up 74-59 with just 3:39 left.
Aside from making all but one of his 12 attempts as he went 5-of-6 from distance, Menina also had two rebounds, two assists and four steals in just 21 minutes of action.
Meanwhile, Ozamiz Cotto will field a crack team in the Mindanao leg of the tourney.
Headlining Ozamiz is John Wilson of the Go for Gold-San Juan Knights in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League.
Wilson, a 6-foot-2, 34-year-old sniper, is coming off an MVP campaign in the 2019-21 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas MPBL Lakan Cup. He averaged 19.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.4 steals in 41 games played.
The native of Binangonan, Rizal led the Knights to a second-place finish in the semi-pro league.
Backstopping Wilson are team captain Pamboy Raymondo, Carlo Lastimosa, Marvin Hayes, and Joseph Eriobu.
