Playoff pairings settled

The playoff pairings for the 2005 Budweiser Cup BANMI Men’s Island-wide Basketball League were determined Friday night when Bud Ice-Hoopaholics/SaipanCell secured the No. 2 spot and O’Douls-Ol’Aces the fourth seed after disposing separate opponents at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Hoopaholics defeated Michelob-Torque/Masters Construction 84-68 in the nightcap and ended the regular season with an 11-3 win-loss record, just a game behind pennant champion Bud Light-Toyota Tundra.

Both teams incidentally will meet in the first round of the playoffs when Michelob’s loss, coupled with an O’Douls win in the opener, dropped the Torque and Masters Construction-backed team to fifth place with a 6-7 slate.

Michelob actually made a game of it in the first half and early in the fourth quarter before losing steam at the end. After an 18-18 tie ending the opening 10 minutes, Hoopaholics turned on the afterburners and left Michelob in a cloud of dust and led 46-29 at the break.

With Dave Sablan and Jerry Ayuyu jokingly appealing to Hoopaholics coach Rufino Aguon to give their team a chance to catch up, Michelob went on a run in the third quarter and got as close as two points, 55-53, following a triple by Tom Diaz with 2:54 remaining in the period.

The Northern Marianas College-based team, however, would go on a 6-1 run to end the period and breathed a little easier ahead 61-54 entering the fourth and final quarter.

Hoopaholics were still not out of it as Michelob simply refused to go away in the final 10 minutes of the ballgame. Led by Sablan, Michelob players cut their deficit to 65-61 with a little over six minutes left in the game, but that was as close as they would get as Hoopaholics went on a 13-0 run capped by back-to-back layups by Jason Amado.

James Villacrusis led a balanced scoring attack by Hoopaholics with 15 points. He was supported by the 14 of John Sablan and 11 of Amado. Sablan led Michelob with 23 points, while Ayuyu and Diaz chipped in 18 and 12 markers, respectively.

Michelob actually could still draw level with O’Douls with a win over No. 3 MARPAC-Nissan Titans on Monday, but just the same would lose because of an inferior quotient. Michelob defeated O’Douls in the first round 85-83 last Sept. 14 but lost to them 124-108 exactly two months later on Nov. 14.

O’Douls (7-7) made sure it got the No. 4 seed and a first round date with Nissan Titans (10-4) after it ousted Anheuser-8 3’s Construction/National Car Rental, 114-94, in the first game.

Buoyed by the unexpected presence of Shan Seman, who was set to compete in the Rota Blue Triathlon Saturday but suited up after he failed to make arrangements for his road bike, O’Douls went up early and was never really tested in registering the 20-point victory.

Big boys Jack Lizama and Mel Tagabuel were on target all game long and combined for 58 points to lead the Oleai-based team. Former IVYBL most valuable player Kevin Cequena, meanwhile, paced Anheuser with a game-high 32 points.

Anheuser’s loss was the ninth in 14 games for the 8 3’s Construction and National Car Rental-backed team. It finished tied with Bacardi-Golden Oldies but lost out on a tiebreaker having dropped both its games against the Masters team (83-92 on Sept. 28 and 83-77 on Nov. 2). The other playoff game would have No. 1 Bud Light (12-2) taking on No. 6 Bacardi (5-9).

First Game
O’Douls-Ol’Aces 114 – Lizama 31, Tagabuel 27, Barcinas 19, Seman 13, Olaitiman 10, Ogumoro 9, Iguel 5.
Anheuser-8 3’s Construction 94 – Cequena 32, Cortez 22, Mendoza 17, Arnedo 13, Artates 6, De Guzman 4.
Scoring by quarters: 30-14, 56-42, 86-57, 114-94.
Referees: Arnold Mesa and Jess Pacheco.

Second Game
Bud Ice-Hoopaholics 84 – Villacrusis 15, Jo. Sablan 14, Amado 11, Je. Sablan 10, Diaz 9, Manibusan 7, Lee 6, Garcia 4, Hardt 4, Awes 2, Fejeran 2.
Michelob-Torque 68 – Sablan 23, Ayuyu 18, Diaz 12, Hocog 11, Mendiola 4.
Scoring by quarters: 18-18, 46-29, 61-54, 84-68.
Referees: Dado Vistal and Noel Delos Santos.