Ballesteros, Sampedro take charge as Sports Scribes squeak past Solar Boys

MANILA, Philippines – The Smart Sports Scribes denied the Capital1 Solar Boys a perfect opening round campaign, while the Say Chiz Smileys scored a bounce-back victory over the Strong Group Athletics Press Row Bros in the 2024 Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Tuesday, March 5.

The Sports Scribes relied on Jan Ballesteros and Julio Sampedro down the stretch to complete a nail-biting 67-66 triumph over the Solar Boys; while the Smileys used a big fourth quarter run to keep the Press Row Bros winless, 89-77, in the third week of the tournament headed by PSA President Nelson Beltran of The Philippine Star and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.

With Smart down by two points, 64-66, Sampedro showed nerves of steel and drilled the go-ahead 3-pointer off an assist from Ballesteros to put the Sports Scribes up by one with 6.9 seconds remaining in the game.

After setting the stage for Sampedro’s clutch basket, Ballesteros, who scored six of the team’s last 11 points, came up big on the defensive end as well and stripped the ball away from Aldo Aviñante in the final play to seal Smart’s second consecutive victory and hand Capital1 its first loss in the tournament.

Ballesteros finished with 17 points, six rebounds, and three steals for the Sports Scribes; while AJ Bolando ended up with 17 markers as well to go along with 11 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Sampedro added nine points, five rebounds, and three assists for the team backed by Danny Espiritu and Headstart Sports Academy.

On the other hand, Aviñante paced the Solar Boys with 20 points, six rebounds, nine assists, and three steals; while STAR's John Bryan Ulanday, who scored six points in Capital1’s 16-2 run to open the fourth, tallied 19 points, four steals, and two assists in the defeat.

Despite the loss, Capital1, which is supported by Mandy and Milka Romero, Bulakan Mayor Vergel Meneses, Uratex, and Rebel, still ended the first round as the top-ranked squad despite sharing identical 2-1 records with Smart and Say Chiz due to superior quotient.

In the opening game, Niel Masoy scored six of his nine fourth quarter points in Say Chiz’s