THE CONVERGYS Wolves and Eperformax Reds stayed on top in the northern conference standings after they nailed separate wins in the 2012 Sun Cellular E-League for Basketball at the City Sports Club-Cebu Gym.
The Wolves handily defeated the 1&1 Marauders, 74-46, while the Reds used a strong endgame kick to defeat the Xlibris Publishers, 66-54.
Convergys and Eperformax both remained unbeaten after four outings.
Kristian Tapic led the Wolves with 17 points and was backed by Ellison Rivera and Ibhar Je Del Mar, who finished with 15 and 12 markers, respectively.
Raymond Basañez tallied 15 points—the lone player to score in double figures for the Marauders, who tasted their third loss in as many games.
Mark Jeffrey Baello and Floyd Dean Singco, on the other hand, combined for 28 points to lead the Reds, who outscored the Publishers in the fourth, 21-15, to escape with the win.
Martin Ian De Guzman scored 15 points, Sergs Al Go Bui listed 13 for the Xlibris, which dropped to 0-3 (win-loss).
In the other game, the Sykes Pioneers survived an endgame scare by the Lexmark Stallions to chalk up a 70-68 victory.
Jan O’Neil Sahilan fired 16 points, Frederick Mentelibano and Gerald Bien Galarido scattered 15 points each, while Vernie Jose Diotay had 11 for Sykes, which led for most part of the game en route to tallying its fourth win in five games.
Franco Angelo Cipriano scored 22 points, while Mervin Balansag had 21 markers for the Stallions, who tried to turn things around in the fourth where they outscored the Pioneers, 29-17, but fell short in the end. /EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CALVIN D. CORDOVA