THE AEGIS Vipers and the Sykes Pioneers relied on blistering starts to beat their respective opponents at the start of the best-of-three conference finals of the 2012 Sun Cellular E-League for Basketball at the City Sports Club-Cebu Gym, last Sunday.
The Vipers took a 1-0 series lead in the northern conference finals by humbling defending champion Stream Ingenyouity, 72-63, while the Pioneers also took off to a 1-0 headstart in the southern conference championship battle with a 72-61 dispatching of the former champions Teletech Titans.
The two winning teams need just one more win to advance to the E-League finals, which is also a best-of-three affair.
In shocking Stream, Aegis went on a 19-7 run in the first period and despite being outscored in the middle periods, 40-32, the Vipers still found a way to escape behind a 21-16 attack in the final period.
Sykes, on the other hand, rattled Teletech with a 17-9 tear to start the game and continued its attack mode in the second period to build a 39-27 lead at the turn.
That solid first half enabled Sykes to thwart the Titans’ several comeback rallies in the final two periods./EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CALVIN D. CORDOVA