THE LEXMARK Stallions struggled early but woke up just in time to defeat the Accenture Sharks, 70-63, and snatch the southern conference crown of the 2013 E-League for Basketball last Saturday at the City Sports Club-Cebu Gym.
The Stallions won the best-of-three series, 2-1, surviving the do-or-die game and arrange an E-League Finals showdown against the Aegis Vipers, the northern conference champions.
Lexmark fell behind by a point at the end of the first quarter, 15-16, and still couldn’t get its game going in the next period as the Sharks took a 32-24 lead at the bend.
Lexmark finally found its bearing in the third, where it staged a pivotal 26-11 run to steal the upper-hand, 50-43, going into the final quarter.
There was no stopping the Stallions from that point on.
Franco Angelo Cipriano led the way for the Stallions with 17 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. Niel Tiempo tallied 15, while Siegfred Ofonda added 13 for Lexmark.
Jasper Loreto finished with 14 markers, Ryan Edward Llanos scored 12, while Archie Brian Vincent Batua collected 10 for the Sharks who couldn’t complete their comeback from a 0-1 series deficit.
Lexmark won Game One, 66-60, before Accenture posted a series-tying 75-64 win in the next game. /EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CALVIN D. CORDOVA