Hyatt, Aqua Resort score lopsided wins

Defending champion Aqua Resort Club and souped-up Hyatt Regency Saipan recorded convincing wins in the resumption of the 5th Annual Mobil Oil Marianas Co-ed Invitational Basketball League Thursday evening at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Aqua Resort got 22 points from old-hand Bogs Dayrit and 21 points from rookie J.E. Torres as the Achugao hotel plastered guest squad CNMI Women’s National Team 80-65 in the second game.

Dayrit started out strong and hit often from the land of plenty, scoring 10 markers—two from downtown—as Aqua Resort opened a 25-11 lead after the first quarter.

He added six more to his corner in the second period but the nationals of coach Donald Blondin would hang tough, especially with veteran Connie Camacho catching fire.

The sharpshooting forward erupted for 12 points in the second canto to help the nationals cut their deficit to a manageable seven points, 31-38, at the break.

Aqua Resort, however, would pull away in the third quarter even with Dayrit opting to play a lesser role on the offense.

With Torres and point guard Ziddy Johannes providing the scoring sock and Camacho slowing down a bit, Aqua Resort took a commanding 56-41 spread heading into the fourth and final quarter.

More players got into the scoreboard in the payoff period, as both teams played a run-and-gun final 10 minutes with Aqua Resort eventually winning by 15 points.

Johannes and center Dalewin Cortez scored 13 and 12 points in support of Dayrit and Torres. Camacho, however, still paced all scorers with 31 points.

In the first game, Hyatt continued its aerial attack in the Mobil league as human pogo sticks Edd Arriola, Mike Umali, and Leo Itaas spearheaded the hoteliers to a 77-63 rout of 2003 champion Pacific Development Inc.

Newcomers Arriola and Itaas played beautiful music inside the court with holdover Umali as the highflying trio accounted for 53 of the team’s total output in the ballgame.

Arriola shot the lights out of the Ada Gym with 24 markers, while Umali and Itaas punched in 15 and 14 markers, respectively.

Government Basketball League MVP Ed Diaz (19 points) and PDI cage belle Saori Asano (18 points) did their share in keeping their team competitive but simply lacked support from their teammates. In fact, PDI forged a 60-all tie early in the fourth but were outscored 17-3 the rest of the way.

First Game

Hyatt 77 – Arriola 24, Umali 15, Itaas 14, Acesok 11, Bendry 4, Calub 4, Villanueva 3, Gabaldon 1, Roman 1.

PDI 63 – Diaz 19, Asano 18, Acosta 9, Guinto 8, Quiambao 4, Guerrero 3, Soriano 2.

Scoring by quarters: 16-17, 40-30, 58-50, 77-63.

Referees: Jess Pacheco and Ray Lizama.

Second Game

Aqua Resort 80 – Dayrit 22, Torres 21, Johannes 13, Cortez 12, Javier 9, Flores 3.

Women’s National Team 65 – Camacho 31, Che. Ruluked 8, Cha. Ruluked 8, Stein 8, G. Mobel 6, Oiterong 4.

Scoring by quarters: 25-11, 38-31, 56-41, 80-65.

Referees: Noel Delos Santos and Ray Lizama.