GOLDEN Pine Hotel had too much firepower in their arsenal ripping Sitel, 81 - 65, in bracket D of the 21st Friendship Cup Basketball Invitational Tournament at the UC gymnasium Tuesday evening.

The hoteliers joined first day bracket D winner Minero for an early lead in the standings.

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They were never intimidated by the fierce triple shooting of the call center agents in the tournament organized by SLU Boys High batch 80.

Utilizing tough defense and fluid offense, Golden Pine opened the game wide as early as the first quarter and capped the victory by posting the season's biggest winning margin.

Golden Pine's big men easily dominated the battle of the boards, while their guards sneaked past their counterparts to control the second period despite a 9-2 blast by Sitel to narrow down the lead, 26-17 with 7:05 remaining in the second period.

Sitel finally made their presence felt in the ball game after cutting Golden Pine's lead to a single digit, 30-23 with 4 minutes left in the first half of the ball game.

But it was the last hurrah for the call center dribblers as Golden Pine pulled away anew with a 12-5 blast ending the second quarter with a 42-28 edge.

Golden Pine then nursed the lead all the way in the second half, as it never looked back despite a fierce rally by Sitel late in the third quarter, 65-42, at the close of the period.

Earl Ganga led Golden Pine with 23 points including five triples drawing help from former Miners journeyman James Boyacs chipping in 15 points. John Pineda and Brian Canias added 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Christian Dela Peña paced Sitel with 19 points while Jeff Posilero added 18 and Jeff Lumabas chipped in 13 points including three triples.

In the bracket E action Beneco cruised past CTRL-Shift in their game also at the UC gym, 69-65.

The Friendship Cup was conceptualized by members of the Saint Louis University (SLU) Boys High Batch 1980 to bring a competitive level of amateur basketball in the city.

The basketball tournament has slowly grown into one of the city's sporting activities luring top players from Baguio and Benguet including nearby provinces such as La Union, Pangasinan, and Ilocos.