MarPac still perfect; Feds hand Office of the Gov.’s 1st loss

MarPac cagers are still the golden boys of the Inaugural R&J Wine and Liquor Inter-Gov’t/Business League 2023 with a 5-0 record, while the Federals handed the erstwhile undefeated Office of the Governor their first loss, setting their record to 3-1.

MarPac blew Priority Care out of the court, 107-71, last Saturday, while Federals stunned the Office of the Governor, 62-54, last Thursday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Last Saturday, Priority Care held their own against the mighty MarPac team in the first quarter for a close 21-23 game. It was a very physical game with back-to-back fouls from both teams which led to a heated game that resulted in not only baskets, but also words thrown around.

Despite that, MarPac established dominance in the second quarter and put on cruise control from there on as their triple threat of Jeff Castro, Coby Santos, and Greg Sablan, put in the work.

Priority Care’s fire was extinguished even as their Top 2 scorers—Matthew Duenas and Steve King—tried to reignite it in the third quarter.

By the fourth quarter, Priority Care lagged behind while MarPac exploded from accuracy within the paint and fast-break plays that a fatigued Priority Care could not catch up to.

Castro’s 30 points was unmatched as he led the game, while he was assisted by Santos and Sablan’s 26 points each. For Priority Care, King managed to put up 27 points despite being well guarded, while Duenas had 22 markers.

The Federals’ game against the Office of the Governor was also quite physical as last-minute fouls toward the end of the last quarter determined the win for the Federals.

Leo Apelo led the charge throughout the game for the Federals as they took on a dynamic Office of the Governor team. Apelo made crucial free throws to put the Federals up in the last quarter as the Office of the Governor went on to fail in producing shots that stuck.

While it was a close game in the first half with the Office of the Governor not far behind, the Federals began to pull away—though not by much, in the third quarter. Apelo and Terence Leung sealed the deal in the last quarter as they collected 19 markers each. Chris Sanchez contributed 12.

Office of the Governor’s Leo Galarse made 13 points and Vince Igitol had 12.

In other results, the Office of the Governor came back to win last Saturday over CUC, 84-69, and Joeten defeated PSS, 72-64.

SATURDAY

MarPac 107 – Castro 30, Santos 26, Sablan 26, Babauta 12, Lee 7, Mettao 6.

Priority Care 71 – King 27, Duenas 22, Rabauliman 7, Maratita 7, Agulto 4, Pelisamen 2, Mafnas 2.

Scoring by quarters: 23-21, 50-33, 75-56, 107-71.

THURSDAY

Federals 62 – Leung 19, Apelo 19, Sanchez 12, Sablan 8, Che 4.

Office of the Governor 54 – Galarse 13, Igitol 12, Aranda 8, T. Pangelinan 6, Camacho 6, Flores 6, Ogumoro 3.

Scoring by quarters: 8-7, 22-18, 44-32, 62-54.