Close victories for Century, Aon

Century Insurance and Aon Insurance repulsed separate foes in similar fashion in Sunday night’s games in the Inaugural 2008 PILCOWA-San Miguel Beer Basketball League at the CIC Centre Basketball Court in Garapan.

Both teams pulled off close wins with Century thwarting Olivos/Reliance Construction, 94-88, and Aon slipping past San Miguel Light, 94-91.

Century improved to a 2-1 record, gaining their second straight victory.

Dennis Vinas drilled seven of Century’s 11 points in the last two minutes of the game, while frontliners Gil Gapor and Jawn Joyner took care of business on the defensive end and scored a basket each in the stretch to lift their team to the six-point win.

The game was tied at 83-all, going into the last two minutes of the game when Vinas connected on a triple and almost drew foul when he was slightly bumped by an Olivos defender.

Olivos’ Peter Mendiola answered with his own triple to force a deadlock, 86-all, with 1:55 left on the clock. That was the last time Olivos tied the match, as it missed several shots after being intimidated by the long arms of Joyner and Vinas, and the heftier Larry Palero. Worse Olivos committed three turnovers in the last minute of the match.

The first one was at the Century’s court when Mendiola made an inbound pass to Edmark Mendoza, who was not expecting the pass and was sprinting to their frontcourt.

Mendoza received the ball, but he was looking for his teammates running to the frontcourt and did not see Joyner from the blind side. When Mendoza made a turn, Joyner picked his pocket and stole the ball.

Joyner then passed the ball to Vinas, who made a layup putting Century in the lead, 88-86. Vinas added two more free throws after Olivos’ successive field goal and free throw misses giving Century a 90-86 advantage, with less than a minute left in the game.

Olivos had another turnover when Ivan De Vero rushed to their frontcourt, drove to the middle and lost the ball.

Century picked up the possession and Gapor drilled a fastbreak layup increasing their team’s lead to six, 92-86, with 36 seconds left in the game.

Olivos refused to give up and was still in the tick of the fight when Glenn Mercurio nailed two free throws and stole the ball from Wowee Abuel. But Mercurio wasted a golden opportunity to move Olivos within two points when he lost the ball after making a turn toward the basket.

Century grabbed the loose ball and Abuel pitched in to Joyner, who made an uncontested layup sealing the win for Century in the last five seconds of the game.

Joyner top-scored for Century with 20 points and was 6-for-6 from the foul line in the fourth quarter. Olivos entered the penalty mark early in the fourth period, giving Century several chances to earn points from the 15-foot line and Joyner rose to the occasions.

Century went 10-for-17 from the free throw area against Olivos’ 7-for-14 in the fourth period.

In the first game, Aon survived Ryan Sanciangco’s season-high 41 points to snap its two-game losing streak.

Aon now has a 2-2 record, while San Miguel Light dropped to a 0-4 record.

Sanciangco, who missed San Miguel’s last two games, returned big time, but failed to make the big shot that could’ve sent the game in overtime.

His triple in the closing seconds of the match was too strong helping Aon preserve the win.
[B] First Game[/B]

Aon 94 – Mendoza 19, Factor 15, Lim 14, Apelo 12, De Dios 12, Catalla 4, Abuy 3, Capuyon, Bahillo 2, Eclevia 2, Santos 2.

San Miguel 91 – Sanciangco 41, Itaas 16, Lauron 10 Garon 10, Lansang 7, Abenoja 3, Ritual 2.

Scoring by quarters: 19-18, 42-38, 68-64, 94-91.

Century 94 – Joyner 20, Vinas 17, Abuel 13, L. Palero 13, Gapor 7, Marasigan 6, Pagarao 6, de la Torre 6, Jinang 2, Opone 2.

Olivos/Reliance Const 88 – Mendoza 21, Mercurio 17, De Vero 16, Casabuena 11, Mendiola 10, Mateo 8, Montano 7.

Scoring by quarters: 13-27, 37-43, 66-63, 94-88.