Armed Forces of the Philippines and Malacañang-Philippine Sports Commission bested their rivals to top their respective divisions in the 7th UNTV Cup held recently tournament at the JCSGO gym in Cubao.
Already proud winners of two titles, the AFP Cavaliers completed a five-game sweep of Group A with a 76-70 win over the defending champions Senate Defenders, while the Malacañang-PSC Kamao rallied to beat the Department of Agriculture Food Masters, 75-63.
The Kamao actually finished tied with the National Housing Authority Builders at 4-1, but it was the former who took the top seeding due to the winner over the other rule.
The Builders capped their first-round campaign with a massive 94-57 win over the Ombudsman Graft Busters.
Only the top four teams from the two six-team groups will advance to the second round, where Group A teams battle the teams from Group B in a single-round affair of the annual event for public servants and organized by UNTV president and CEO Dr. Daniel Razon.
Aside from AFP and Senate, also advancing from Group A are Philippine National Police and PITC, while joining Malacañang-PSC, NHA and DA from Group B is two-time champion Judiciary.
Darwin Cordero scattered 20 points to lead four players in double digits for AFP which controlled the match right from the start.
Coming off a thrilling 63-62 win over the NHA Builders, the Kamao rallied from a 12-point deficit early in the fourth quarter behind the hot-shooting of Erick dela Cuesta to pull off another impressive win.
A member of the Philippine training team to the 2007 Thailand SEA Games, Dela Cuesta came off the bench to explode for 22 points. He also had 9 rebounds and three steals to share the Best Players award with Visnu Das Javier, who tallied 13 points, eight rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
