Corrections, Legislature tied in power-outage halted match

The exit door awaiting the first team to be eliminated in the playoffs of the Inaugural PTI Inter-Government/Business Basketball League remains closed after the Legislature-Department of Corrections tiff at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium Thursday night was suspended due to a power outage.

Both the Lawmakers and Correction lost their first match in the double-elimination playoffs thus another defeat would mean an early shower for neither team. The Legislature and Corrections bowed to NMC and Autonomous, respectively, in similar scores, 82-68.

Thursday night’s game was suspended at the 8:37 mark in the fourth period with the match tied at 69-all.

The fourth quarter began with Corrections ahead by six, 69-63, but a 6-0 start brought the Legislature back in business. But just when the Lawmakers were gaining momentum, the power went off, halting a game in the PTI caging for the first time since last week.

The league completed matches in the first round of the playoffs as the power went off either before the game started or after it finished.

But Thursday night, luck was not on Corrections and the Legislature’s side. The continuation of the match is scheduled for tomorrow after the game between Tinian and Bank of Guam.

Tinian and BOG are also fighting for dear life, having dropped their opening assignments in the playoffs. Tinian lost to PTI via forfeit, while BOG suffered a heartbreaking one-point loss to the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, 82-83.

The playoff match between Legislature and Corrections was a close battle with the former leading at the end of the first quarter, 20-17.

The father-and-son tandem of Ray and Ernest Duenas worked wonders for the Lawmakers as they combined for 16 of the Legislature’s total points in the first period.

Ray continued to sizzle in the second canto, but Ernest went cold, giving Corrections a chance to grab the upperhand.

Walter Mendez and Gregorio Blas played beautiful music together for Corrections in the second period, drilling 10 and nine points, respectively, to give DOC a 47-40 halftime lead.

The pair of Mendez and Blas were still unstoppable in the second half, helping Corrections keep the driver’s seat, 69-63, going into the final quarter.

The Lawmakers had a good start in the final period to tie the game and were looking to retake the lead, but a power outage prevented them from doing so.

Ray Duenas had scored 29 points to lead Legislature’s recovery, while Ernest had added 22. Joel Punzalan had chipped in nine.

Mendez was pacing Corrections with 19 markers, while Blas and Peter Mendiola had contributed 17 and 10 points, respectively.