Saipan Tribune

Monday, May 20, 2013

Friday, February 22, 2013

Maplas extends streak in DLX caging

Maplas La Mani stretched its win streak to three after pounding Servitek, 83-59, in their Division B game in the DLX/Anchor Strong Invitational Basketball League last Wednesday night at the Gualo Rai Basketball Court.

Maplas dominated Servitek right from the get-go and withstood the latter's third quarter rally to keep its winning run that started on Feb. 2 when the former survived Susupe in overtime, 86-84. Maplas, which dropped its debut against Gualo Rai, 65-66, then got its second win via another close game versus LD Prime, 66-65.

Against Servitek, Maplas raced to a 17-5 lead in the opening quarter with Dennis Cortez sparking the team's good start, scoring their first six points and outgunning the entire Servitek crew. Servitek only made two field goals in the first period off Don Brennan's triple and Rio “Pacman” Alvarez's 2-pointer.

Maplas' advantage then ballooned to 20 at the break, 36-16, as Servitek still could not get more players involved on the team's offense. Again, only two players lit up the scoreboard for Servitek with Anthony Webb drilling three triples and Noel Mateo nailing a short jumper, while Maplas got contributions from six different players.

In the second half, Servitek made a little headway when it sliced the lead to single digits in the first half of the third period, 34-43, behind Mican Bench and Webb's baskets. Bench, who was sluggish in the opening half, failing to nail a single field goal, scored Servitek's first 9 points, while Webb added 5 and three other players also drained at least one basket each to keep their team in the game.

However, that was the closest Servitek could get, as Rommel Usi began pulling the trigger and connecting on long jumpers in the latter half of the third canto. Usi canned two triples and scored 7 straight markers, as Maplas had a 14-7 windup to bring the lead back to twin digits at the end of the third, 57-41.

A 12-2 start in the fourth quarter gave Maplas its biggest lead and sealed the doom for Servitek, which absorbed its third loss in four games. Cortez and Mico Usi teamed up in the fourth quarter assault, scoring 6 points each.

Cortez went on pace Maplas with his 18 points, while the Usi brothers added 14 apiece. Webb, Brennan, and Bench top-scored for Servitek with 12 markers each.

Meanwhile, the Susupe-LD Prime tiff in the late night match was rained out with over three minutes left in the third and the former ahead by double digits. It was LD Prime's (1-5) second suspended game for the week, as its duel against the ICS Shooters last Monday was also postponed due to rain with the latter ahead, 10-8, 3:01 remaining in the first quarter.

Maplas La Mani 83 - Cortez 18, R. Usi 14, M. Usi 14, Aguilar 8, Claveria 7, Morales 7, Odicta 5, Aniciete 4, Rivera 2.

Servitek 59 - Webb 12, Brennan 12, Bench 12, Alvarez 8, Mateo 4m Detera 4, Esconde 2.

Scoring by quarters: 17-5, 36-16, 57-41, 83-59.