Saipan Tribune

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Friday, September 28, 2012

Sonics snap Proa win streak in U20

Defending champion Sonics chased down Mariana Resort-Proa with a 29-point explosion in the fourth quarter and won their Saipan Rotary Club Youth Basketball League U20 division matchup, 72-62, last Wednesday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

As a result, Sonics and Rollers Basketball Club's Rollers 2 are now the only two undefeated teams left in the field and lead Proa (3-1), RBC's Rollers 1 (1-1), Hi-5 (1-1), Chalan Kanoa Saints (1-1), LD Prime (1-2), Oleai Ol'Aces (0-2), and RBC's Agape Torchbearers (0-3).

The Saints faced off against LD Prime last night and today's double feature starts with Hi-5 taking on Rollers 1 at 5:30pm followed by Ol'Aces versus the Torchbearers at 6:45pm.

Ichitaro Faisao started off with a hot hands from the tip off and drummed out 11 points in the first quarter that helped Proa take a 19-9 lead.

Teammates Shane Deleon Guerrero-Diaz and Frank Mettao chipped in a couple of baskets in the opening frame and then added another 4 markers in the second quarter.

But without the help of Faisao, Sonics hit back in the second quarter and pulled to within a basket at halftime, 27-29, as Jimmy Tudela and John Paul Villanueva teamed up for a dozen markers.

After the break, Faisao and Mettao teamed up for 14 points in the third quarter that bested the 3 buckets apiece of Sonics' Tudela and Adrian Palacios as the former maintained the upper hand, 47-45, heading into the final period.

Proa appeared unsteady since the latter half of the third period and the depth of the Sonics bench began to show through.

As Proa was limited to just two baskets in the first four minutes of crunch time, Sonics' Nevim Salem stepped up and helped push the team forward with Tudela and a big 3-pointer by Paul Mariano giving the Sonics a 56-49 advantage with just over six minutes left in regulation.

After that Ezra Caro led a host of others with 6 points that gave the reigning champs a 68-56 lead with two minutes left to play and they went on to coast to the win.

Tudela led the Sonics with 21 points, while Faisao did all he could and finished with a game-high 30 points in the loss.

Sonics 72 - Tudela 21, Villanueva 10, Caro 10, Palacios 8, Deguzman 6, Salem 6, Mariano 3, Alegre 2, Aranda 2, Javier 2, Del Rosario 2.

Marianas Resort Proa 62 - Faisao 30, Mettao 16, Diaz 12, Sanarez 2, Manalili 2.

Scoring by quarters: 9-19, 27-29, 43-45, 72-62.