Rollers 2 leads holiday hoops

Rollers 2 took the early lead in the boys division of the 2013 Sun Palace Christmas Basketball Tournament after outclassing Dream Team, 52-43, last Tuesday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium.

Rollers 2 improved to a 2-0 record to get the top spot in the seven-team field. Dream Team dropped its debut, sharing the bottom of the team standings with Rollers 1, Rollers 5, and FTMP (Funky Town Monkey Pimps), which have similar 0-1 slates. Completing the division are Rollers 3 and 4, which hold identical 1-0 marks.

Mike Espinosa top-scored in Rollers 2’s win, drilling 21 points. He nailed three straight triples in the closing minutes of the second half to widen Rollers 2’s gap against the all-female crew of Dream Team. Actually, the last five field goals of Rollers 2 all came from downtown with Jun Fidelino and Joemac Mangalo making the two other field goals.

Before its hot shooting from beyond the arc, Rollers 2 clung to a precarious 27-26 halftime lead and Dream Team momentarily grabbed the upper hand with Kyla Ito starting the second half with a triple. However, Rollers quickly regained the driver’s seat and remained in control with Espinosa on target.

Rollers 4 42,
Rollers 5 40
In the other game in the boys division, Rollers 4 edged Rollers 5 to win its first game in the holiday tournament.

Jonathan Santos lifted Rollers 4 to the close win, scoring 13 of the team’s last 15 points. He carded a string of 13 points past the halfway mark of the second half, including three consecutive triples. Vince Iba tallied the other 2 points for Rollers 4, while Santos made the insurance with the last field goal in the game. Before his second-half explosion, Santos had only 2 points.

With Santos still not finding his form, Rollers 4 leaned on Dixon Kwon and Isaiah Retan, who earned 6 points apiece to give their team a 17-14 cushion at the break. Rollers 5 stayed in contention after the first half with its decent 3-point shooting. Ylac Caracut, Aaron Ogumoro, and Emmanuel Cobacha drained one triple apiece in the first 20 minutes of play.

Rollers 5 went cold from downtown in the second half, while Santos’ guns were blazing.

Hula Girls 52,
Tappers 44
In the girls division game last Saturday, Hula Girls defeated Tappers 44.
Jan-nasia Travilla had 22 points in the victory, winning a shootout against Alyanna Garon, who finished with 21 points.
Garon had Travilla’s number in the first half with the former firing 4 triples against the latter’s one. However, Travilla’s 7 points and Irish Pagarao’s 8 markers were enough to offset Garon’s 12 points and give Hula Girls a 21-17 advantage at halftime.

Travilla continued to hit her shots in the second half and added 15 more points to lift Hula Girls to the 8-point win, while Garon struggled in the early minutes of the final frame before regaining her touch late in the period and making three more treys.

With the win, Hula Girls joined Wrecking Balls on top of the four-team field.

Wrecking Balls won its opener against Futball and goes for victory No. 2 today when it faces Tappers at 6:30pm. Two more matches are set for today with Rollers 1 and Rollers 5 colliding at 5:30pm and Rollers 3 and Rollers 4 meeting in the 7:30pm game.

BOYS DIVISION
First Game
Rollers 4 42 – J. Santos 15, Retan 8, Kwon 6, A. Santos 4, Toves 4, Jiang 2, Iba 2.
Rollers 5 40 – Caracut 9, Cobacha 9, Ogumoro 8, Yu 6, Bordon 4, Tengco 2.

Scoring by halves: 17-14, 42-40.
Second Game
Rollers 2 52 – Espinosa 21, Cenir 6, Darag 6, Mangalo 5, Mendoza 4, Subang 4, Lucido 3, Fidelino 3.
Dream Team 43 – Ito 8, Javier 8, Williams 6, Pagarao 6, Pensa 5, Alegre 4, Castillo 2, Abrams 2, Palero 2.
Scoring by halves: 27-26, 52-43.

GIRLS DIVISION
Hula Girls 52 – Travilla 22, Pagarao 12, I. Palero 8, Pena 8.
Tappers 44 – Garon 21, Francisco 12, Alipio 8, Rogoyawa 2.
Scoring by halves: 21-17, 52-44.