Blue Haus repeats as masters champion

Blue Haus players join Blue Haus owner Cecile Camama, center, in celebration with their championship trophy after winning the masters division of the 2nd Annual Saipan Centennial Lions Basketball League last Tuesday night at the Koblerville Basketball Court. (MARK RABAGO)

Blue Haus withstood a furious rally that saw Blue Eagle/Royal Pacific take a late lead to repeat as champions of the masters division of the 2nd Annual Saipan Centennial Lions Basketball League last Tuesday night at the Koblerville Basketball Court. 

The defending champions got off to a terrific start, buoyed by the hot shooting of Finals MVP J.R. Barrios, but Blue Eagle clawed their way back before turnovers and bad shots did them in the endgame, 68-66.

Barrios was cooking like the various food stalls at the Taste of Marianas, igniting Blue Haus with 13 points as they took the first quarter by a mile, 28-8.

Blue Eagle was quick to respond though and with Andrew Ashburn hitting from outside and De Shawn Reign pounding it inside, they managed to trim their deficit to a manageable 10 points, 24-34, at the half of the low-scoring winner-take-all finale.

Both Blue Haus and Blue Eagle took each other’s best punches in the third with the former trying to make sense of their once-imposing 20-point lead evaporating and the latter scrambling to complete their furious comeback. 

The nip-and-tuck nature of the period was best exemplified by Blue Eagle’s Mark Francisco and Blue Haus’ Elmer Esdrelon answering each other’s triples that made it 50-46 in favor of Blue Haus with less than a minute to go in the third. 

After bull-strong forward Junar Guiab’s running humper made it 52-46 time down to 20 seconds, Tony Diaz fouled Ashburn with zeros left on the clock and Blue Haus in penalty. 

The former New York City slamdunk champion then aced his two free throws to make it just a 4-point game, 52-48, entering the fourth and final quarter. 

Blue Haus started the payoff period with 5 straight points, but Blue Eagle quickly retaliated and made a 9-0 run of its own to tie things up at 57-all following another triple by Francisco with 5 minutes left and change in the ballgame. 

A 10-footer by Esdrelon and a free throw on a technical foul against Jet Jandoc for slamming the ball gave Blue Haus a 60-57 momentary reprieve. 

But Blue Eagle scored 4 straight points to grab the lead, 61-60, after a fast break layup by Jandoc and a putback by Reign at the 2:25 mark of the fourth. 

Esdrelon then followed up his own miss for a putback, but Reign was fouled and swished both free throws as the seesaw battle between the two teams ensued with 1:49 left in the finals.

Esdrelon and Ashburn would exchange flubbed free throws and a turnover before Guiab gave Blue Haus back the lead by duking out all defenders with his patented 10-foot pullup to make it 64-63.

Blue Eagle had several opportunities to take back the advantage, but missed a couple of makeable shots. 

Then with 24.9 second remaining, Barrios stripped Javier on a rebound play and fed Marlon De Dios for an easy deuce to pad  Blue Haus’ lead to 66-63.  

Javier was fouled by De Dios in the next play and made the first before missing the second. Fortunately, the 6’4” Reign was there for the carom and the ball found Jandoc behind the 3-point line but his hurried attempt missed. 

De Dios was immediately fouled with 11 second left and made a free throw to make it 67-64, before Blue Haus let Ashburn score a meaningless 12-footer. Ashburn later said he was hoping to get fouled for an old-fashioned 3-point play.

Guiab was immediately grabbed on the inbound with 1.1 ticks to go and made the first before purposely missing the second, as Blue Haus players and supporters erupted with a mix of relief and celebration. 

Barrios led all scores with 22 points, while Guiab and Esdrelon added 14 and 13 points, respectively. 

Ashburn paced Blue Eagle in the loss with 20 points, while Reign and Jandoc chipped in 15 and 13 points, respectively. 

Blue Haus coach Dan Chan admitted that there were a lot of tense moments in the championship game against Blue Eagle. 

He, however, attributed the team’s second straight championship to team chemistry and not wilting under pressure when the going got tough, especially in the last two minutes. 

Chan then thanked the Saipan Centennial Lions Club, Blue Haus and its owner Cecile Camama, and SCLC league organizer led by commissioner Sonny Ebuen for successfully organizing the 2nd Annual Saipan Centennial Lions Basketball League.

Results of the open division championship between New Chang Ming Market and Martech-Ol’Aces will be published in the next issue of Saipan Tribune.

Blue Haus 68 – Barrios 22, Guiab 14, Esdrelon 13, Diaz 8, De Dios 7, Lauron 6.
Blue Eagle 66 – Ashburn 20, Reign 15, Jandoc 13, Javier 8, Francisco 6, Villarin 2, Mendiola 2.
Scoring by quarters: 28-8, 34-24, 52-48, 68-66.