Team Panlilio wins anew

A hard start and big push was all Team Panlilio needed to jumpstart its bid to its second consecutive win in the Francisco division of the 10^th Season of the Ateneo Basketball league. Team Panlilio used a second quarter push and never looked back as it disposed Team Amurao at the D-Zone in Makati City. Peter Gonzalez led the charge of Team Panlilio as he and Jerome Buhay took charge of the fastbreaks that broke the backs of Team Amurao to win convincingly 79 -63.

Conditioning plays a big role in the Ateneo Basketball league as most of the Alumni who play are usually past their prime since beer bellies are the in thing and it is the venue where weekend warriors summon their strength anew. Team Panlilio boasts of two well conditioned athletes in Peter Gonzalez who is an accomplished triathlon campaigner. ON the other hand, Jerome Buhay spends a lot of time conditioning himself through various 10k runs and a full marathon. These two guard-forwards leave opponents gasping for air as they usually go for the basket in every fastbreak opportunity.

Team Panlilio has other weapons who clicked this time around as three point specialist Bong Berbano led TeamPan with 18 points after sinking four three pointers which he complemented with 5 steals. Dato Arroyo on the other hand provided the fourth quarter spark as Gonzalez sat down for the whole fourth quarter. Jun Castro, the team’s primary inside penetrator was saddled by early foul trouble and was not into his game early on as he just scored 6 points. Dennis Manalo opened the third quarter with valuable lane incursions together with another center Buboy Go who just arrived from abroad in the morning of game day.

With two straight wins, Team Panlilio has a bright outlook in the tournament as the confidence in their defense, fastbreak and inside plays will be a big factor in the coming games. Next stop, a battle between two undefeated teams as Team Panlilio takes on another unbeaten team, Team Jalandoni. Stay tuned.