GEC earned a living from the free throw line en route to a come-from-behind 81-75 win over Cool Water in the masters division game in the 2009 PILCOWA Basketball League on Thursday at the JP Centre Basketball Court in Garapan.
GEC fell behind by as much as 20 points in the first half, but began working its way back into the game in the third canto and then stole the win after capitalizing on the foul-plagued Cool Water in the fourth quarter.
With Cool Water committing one foul after another and entering the penalty mark early in the fourth canto, GEC made 34 trips from the 15-foot line in that period alone and got 19 points from the foul line. GEC's points off free throws were even higher than its points off field goal conversion (12 points).
The game started with Cool Water and GEC having a neck-and-neck battle in the first period, which ended at 18-all.
In the second quarter, Cool Water began pulling away after drawing contributions from eight players. Cool Water outscored GEC, 23-11, for a 41-29 halftime lead.
GEC failed to keep up with Cool Water in the second quarter, as the former was held to only three field goals and went only 5-for-15 from the foul line.
GEC cut the lead to nine, 50-59, after making a little headway in the third period. Alex Ocampo, who was limited to a field goal in the first half, found his mark in the third canto, drilling nine points, while Warren Villegas and Bobby Vargas added four points apiece to keep GEC afloat.
Cool Water kept the lead at the end of the third quarter with Gilbert Espinosa scoring five points and going 3-for-6 from the free throw line and five other players nailing one field goal each.
Espinosa tried to continue anchoring Cool Water's offense in the fourth canto, but muffed a bundle of shots. To make things worse for Cool Water, it started picking up cheap fouls and sending GEC to the stripe.
Ocampo spent most of his minutes in the fourth quarter stepping to the 15-foot line. He went 7-for-13 from the free throw line in the payoff mark, making more trips to the stripe in that quarter than his combined six visits in the first three cantos.
Another frequent visitor to the charity lane was Adonis Macoto, who went there 10 times and made six free throws. Come-backing Jun Alipio also spent some time at the stripe, going 4-for-6, while Ed Yalung and Oscar Jalandoni went 1-for-2 each, Vargas made one attempt from the foul line but missed the shot.
Ocampo finished with 24 points for GEC, which won its debut in the masters caging. Vargas and Macoto chipped in 12 markers apiece, while four other players combined for 24 markers to help in GEC's balance scoring.
Joseph Galulu and Dindo Pablo had 14 and 13 points, respectively, for Cool Water, which dropped to a 0-2 start after losing its debut against University of Loyola last Sunday. Espinosa also had double figures with 10 points but was scoreless in the fourth period, as he fouled out midway in that canto, while Edsel Delfin also nailed 10 markers, making all of his points in the first half.
Meanwhile, the New City International Construction-Diamond Ali' duel in the open division was halted in the first quarter due to rain and will be rescheduled on a later date.
GEC 81 - Ocampo 24, Vargas 12, Macoto 12, Yalung 6, Villegas 6, Alipio 6, Illahi 6, Jalandoni 4, Salazar 3, Geli 2.
Cool Water 75 - Galulu 14, Pablo 13, Delfin 10, Espinosa 10, Montano 9, Darag 6, Garcia 5, Valencia 3, Moreno 3, Patricio 2.
Scoring by quarters: 18-18, 29-41, 50-59, 81-75.
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