ALCANTARA, Cebu. – The MJAS Zenith-Talisay City Aquastars got the jump on the KCS Computer Specialist-Mandaue City and never looked back, scoring a 77-57 win in the 2021 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Tuesday at the Civic Center here.
Athletic forward Jaymar Gimpayan, coming off the bench, had a spectacular outing as he tallied 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and had an assist and a block to help MJAS Zenith post its second win in as many games.
Val Acuña added 12 points, including a pair of three-pointers near the end of the game that put an exclamation point on the emphatic win between two contenders in the Visayas leg.
MJAS Zenith held KCS scoreless for the first six minutes of the game while scoring 16 of to set the tempo of the match. KCS managed to trim the deficit to 17-25 but the Aquastars went on a 13-3 run capped by a steal and a bucket by homegrown player Lugie Cuyos for a 38-20 lead.
KCS cut MJAS Zenith’s lead to 36-44 but Gimpayan gave the Aquastars a boost, scoring six points late in the third to give his team a 15-point lead 58-43 heading to the final canto.
MJAS Zenith coach Aldrin Morante said it was important for his team to come out focused because they didn’t want to take KCS lightly.
“Kelangan namin mag-focus kasi malakas ang KCS,” Morante said. “Hindi kami nagkumpyansa sa kanila and good start ang kailangan.”
