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01.2010

Coming back from its first loss against the Coca-Cola Tigers in the 4th Basketball Coaches Association of La Union (BCALU) Basketball Tournament, the Provincial Government of La Union (PGLU) Basketball Team gave Holcim its first taste of loss last January 24 at the Francisco L. Ortega Memorial Sports and Civic Center, City of San Fernando, La Union. Ironically, to date, only Holcim is the only team which gave the bottlers its taste of defeat.

Showing no mercy, Board Member Mannix Ortega’s boys never gave the cement-makers a chance to grab the lead during the whole game. After Coach Max Pulido gave his first five a long-deserved rest however, Holcim finds it self knocking at the door of the Capitol Basketball Team, cutting the lead by five from as much as 31 at 42-73 in the second quarter. Holcim’s Surge continued until the fourth quarter with Garcia, putting up sticky defense which put Atong Cariño and Wings Laureta in foul trouble. After executing his trademark of sharp boards and acrobatic reverse lay-ups, Laureta was sidelined after a technical foul courtesy of the fiery Garcia.

In the last three minutes of the last quarter however, the PGLU Team’s defense, courtesy of its first five, was too much for the opposing team as Cariño registered ball-popping blocks, capping the game at 67-59. Leading the win were Billy Salazar who registered 30 monstrous points; Mark Mondina, 14 points, two of which were from the three-point country; and Eugene Lagarte, who was still nursing a sprained ankle, with 11 points.

PGLU will next play against the Thunderbird Basketball Team which beefed up its line-up through its new employees, slated on February 4, 2010 at the Francisco L. Ortega Memorial Sports and Civic Center.