Undefeated A Plus Team advances to masters finals

A Plus Team-Saipan Marine Corp. continued on their path to dominance as they’ve beaten every single one of their foes in the regular season/playoffs and is the first team to advance to the masters division finals of the Inaugural SMEC-SMLEG Invitational Basketball Tournament 2023.

The semis are a double-elimination format and A Plus hs now won two of their semis games against Blue Haus and JSN last Monday. A Plus is now awaiting the winner of the semis games of Blue Haus and JSN. Blue Haus and JSN need one more win after they both got their first win against Legends.

A Plus’ game against Blue Haus last week was rained-out and continued on Monday after late afternoon showers once again with 6.9 seconds left. A Plus won a close 56-54 after Blue Haus failed to tie it up and force overtime.

It was 55-54 in the continuation of their game on Monday, with A Plus’ possession. Clint Albert was on the free throw line, hoping to take it all the way home. His first free throw missed and gave Blue Haus a chance to tie it up. Albert scored the last free throw to make it 56-54.

It was Blue Haus’ possession. A throw across the court to Jay-R Barrios made it, but his Hail Mary layup attempt missed as time ran out and gave the win to A Plus.

Blue Haus proved a worthy adversary against A Plus as this wasn’t the first time these two teams met on the big stage. They knew their way around each other hence the low and close score, but A Plus demolished them in the first quarter as they couldn’t seem to find the basket, for a 15-5 lead.

Blue Haus went into overdrive in the second period led by back-to-back 3-pointers by Dan Chan and Junar Guiab, as well as fast-break drives that resulted in fouls on Barrios. A Plus was limited to just 9 points while Blue Haus went on an 18-point binge to get within a point, 23-24.

A Plus’ ball handling and defense were their strong suit as Andrew Ashburn and DeShawn Reign put the pressure up with blocks and man-to-man defense on Blue Haus. Blue Haus tried to make a break for it and take the lead in the third quarter, but thanks to A Plus’ high percentage from 3-point territory and Joel Javier’s inside the paint supremacy, it garnered them a four-point, 46-42 lead.

In the end, Javier led A Plus with 18 markers, followed by Ashburn and Gino Libuw’s 9 points each. Blue Haus’ Barrios made 23 points, while Marlon De Dios collected 11, and Guiab scored 8.

A Plus Team 56 – Javier 18, Ashburn 9, Libuw 9, Diaz 8, Reign 5, Wesley 4, Mendiola 2, Albert 1.

Blue Haus 54 – Barrios 23, De Dios 11, Guiab 8, Atiogue 4, Santos 4, Chan 3, Talania 1.

Scoring by quarters: 15-5, 24-23, 46-42, 56-54.