Ghasias game away from title

After dropping Friday’s match to Shag, the Ghasias Brothers returned with renewed focus Monday night, but just the same the defending champions needed O-kon to take Game 3 of the World Organized Rocball Interscholastic and Community League championships at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.

The Brothers now hold a two-games-to-one advantage over Shag in the best-of-five series, and a win tonight at the Marianas High School Gymnasium would give them back-to-back titles.

Led by the cornerstone of their offense, Freddy Pelisamen, Ghasias Brothers rocketed out to a 19-7 beat down of Shag. It seemed as if the teams were switching sides of the court almost as soon as they started.

The second set wasn’t much different, as the Ghasias Brothers picked up right where they left off with a lightning-quick 15-6 pummeling of the regular season runners-up.

After what seemed to be 10 minutes, Ghasias Brothers were ahead by two sets to nil and held a 34-13 advantage in the points’ race. During the break, the Shag players got together to map out a game plan, and their scheme almost worked.

The third set did not come quite as easily for the Ghasias Brothers as the first two, as they had to fight tooth and nail to win 15-12. Up 3-0 in the set count, and leading 49-25, all the Brothers had to do was to win the last set to “Juice Out” and win the game.

Knowing this scenario all too well, Shag got their collective acts together and took the last set 15-10 to force O-kon. The first team that scores a goal or compile 10 points would get to win the extra set.

If Shag won, the match would go into double O-kon. If the Ghasias Brothers won, the game was theirs, and that’s exactly what happened.

In the O-kon set, the Brothers and Shag went back and forth, but in the end it was the defending champs that had what it took to win the big game, 11-9.

Overall, the Shag scored a goal and 11 kees, compared to three aces, 18 kees and a pair of goals by the Ghasias Brothers.

The Ghasias Brothers also had the game’s standout, as Pelisamen was named the heavy hitter, scoring an ace, five kees and a goal to lead his team in the victory with 15 points.

Game 4 of the best-of-five Rocball finals takes place tonight at 5pm in the air-conditioned comforts of the MHS Gymnasium.