IRBL to work on rescheduling of games

With evacuees temporarily sheltered at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium scheduled to return home today, an official of the Inter Restaurant Basketball League indicated that resumption of the league’s playoff round should be expected soon.

According to IRBL official Jake Villanueva, members of the IRBL committee would meet in the coming days with team representatives, referees, and other officials in hopes of completing a schedule for the remainder of the season.

Despite the gym being cleared of shelter occupancy, the league might not resume until Sept. 15 as league officials are still awaiting the arrival of trophies for the end of season awards ceremony.

“The trophies were ordered from the mainland and should arrive by Sept. 20,” he said earlier. “Since we only have the semifinals and the finals, then that [Sept. 15] is a good date to resume.”

Villanueva disclosed that the trophies come courtesy of sponsor Triple J Wholesale.

“We don’t want the games to be completed and there’s nothing to give the players and teams, so we decided to wait,” he said.

Only five games, at the most, remains to be played before the 2004 champion is crowned.

After the completion of the regular season and first round of the playoffs, only four teams remain standing. Spearheading the cast is pennant champion Cappricciosa, which will face Jollibee in one half of the semifinals. The other bout features Country House battling Angel Wings.

While Cappricciosa earned a bye in the quarterfinals by claiming the best regular round finish, Jollibee earned it’s ticket after defeating El Segundo 76-63 two weeks ago.

Country House, for its part, won via default after Keeraku failed to suit enough cagers for their match, and the same went for Angel Wings after LSG Sky Chefs withdrew.

The winners of the two matches will then square off in a best-of-three championship series to determine the 2004 champion.

Earlier this week, Villanueva indicated that the league may hold the remaining games outdoors, namely at the Garapan basketball court due to the temporary occupancy of the gym.

Those plans, however, won’t be necessary after news of evacuees returning home hit yesterday.
The Ada facility is also home to other leagues whose 2004 play were interrupted by Mother Nature’s fury the last month. Among them are the Saipan Rotary Summer Youth Basketball League and the 2004 UFO-San Miguel Cup.