Cough Busters weather Iromen's rally for rousing start in TOP

Ascof Lagundi leaned on the endgame brilliance of Fil-American Jonathan Uyloan in the Tournament of the Philippines’ third leg opener at Trace College Gym in Los Baños, Laguna. Uyloan was a steady performer in the Natural Cough Busters’ tense 104-100 triumph over the rallying Cobra Energy Drink Ironmen, 104-100. The 26-year old Uyloan, who was born in Manila but moved to California when he was two-years old, scored eight of his 14 points for the Cough Busters. Uyloan helped weather Cobra’s late uprising from 19 points down. “It’s a team effort. I could not have made those shots without the extra passes my teammates gave me," said Uyloan referring to the his two successive treys that stopped the momentum of the Ironmen. Ascof Lagundi, which is hoping to improve on the team’s runner-up showing in the first leg of this first-ever joint tournament of Philippine Basketball League and Liga Pilipinas, erected a 72-53 lead halfway through the third period. But Cobra won’t go down without a fight. Known for their never-say-die attitude, the Ironmen completed a 92-85 come-from-behind win over the Misamis Oriental Meteors en route to claiming the second leg crown of the tournament. Against the Natural Cough Busters, the Ironmen were close to pulling off a win via the backdoor. PJ Barua took charge for the Ironmen as he poured 15 of his 20 points in the final 10 minutes, including three of his four triples. His first triple in the period pushed his team to within 88-87 before Uyloan drilled two treys that gave the Natural Cough Busters some breathing room,96-90, with two minutes left. Barua, however, responded with two more trifectas to pull his team to within 102-100 with 13 ticks left. Rudy Lingganay fouled Uyloan to stop the clock. The Fil-Am sank both charities for the final tally. - RCJ, GMANews.TV