OPA beats Customs in down-the-wire finish

Office of the Public Auditor played well down the stretch, while the Commonwealth Ports Authority-Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting had their way as both teams opened their campaign in the 2006 Inter-Government Basketball League on a high note Monday night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

In the opener, OPA took the lead and held off a determined charge by Division of Customs to leave with a 50-45 victory.

Both teams were evenly matched. However, OPA was able to put up a stronger effort in the first 10 minutes to take a 12-9 lead after one period of play.

OPA kept a hold of the lead and got a respectable performance from Chris Camacho in the second period to increase their lead. Camacho drilled three buckets and the OPA defense held Customs below the 10-point mark again to go into the break ahead, 26-18.

With time against them, the Customs’ cagers picked up their defensive intensity and returned the favor by limiting OPA to just nine points in the third quarter. While their defense was working well, Customs managed to get the job done offensively as the team pumped in four field goals and a triple to inch to within six points, 29-35, with one stanza remaining to be played.

Customs refused to surrender and continued to push the best they could, but despite scoring a point better than OPA in the final minutes, still came up a little short.

Camacho came up big in the clutch for OPA, scoring five of the team’s final nine points.

Jeff Quitugua led OPA with 15 points, while Camacho and Robert Torres added 14 and 11 points.

In the second game, CPA-ARFF dominated action in the second and fourth quarters to defeat a shorthanded Procurement & Supply squad, 76-52.

Not satisfied with its 18-16 lead after the first quarter, CPA-ARFF kicked it into high gear and outscored P&S, 22-12, to move into the comfort zone, 40-28. Veteran Jerome Reyes had the hot hand for CPA-ARFF as he swooshed the net for 10 points.

Jawn Joyner carried the bulk of CPA-ARFF’s offensive load in the third and helped the team expand their lead to 15 points, 54-49, and Reyes returned to the court in the fourth to close out strong with another 12 points.

Reyes finished with a game-high 28 points, while Joyner contributed 15 points to lead CPA-ARFF.

Former CPA playing-coach Mike Muna led P&S, which had only five players, with 24 points, while Ray Takai and Herman Tudela added 14 and 10 points.

First Game
OPA 50 – Quitugua 15, C. Camacho 14, Torres 11, D. Camacho 6, Peter 5, Sasamoto 4, J. Camacho 4.
Customs 45 – Fejeran 6, Torwal 6, D. Reyes 5, Lizama 5, Sablan 5, Pangelinan 4, T. Santos 4, J. Reyes 2, Atalig 2, Iguel 2, Masaharu 2, S. Santos 2.
Scoring by quarters: 12-9, 26-18, 35-29, 50-45.
Referees: Dado Vistal and Noel Delos Santos.

Second Game
CPA-ARFF 76 – Reyes 28, Joyner 15, Duenas 9, Uchel 6, Cruz 5, Sablan 4, Mizutani 2, Ada 2, Taitingfong 2, Aldan 2, Sanchez 1.
P&S 52 – Muna 24, Takai 14, Tudela 10, Pangilinan 2, Palacios 2.
Scoring by quarters: 18-16, 40-28, 54-39, 76-52.
Referees: Mike White and Jess Pabula.