Fiesta lives for another day

Fiesta Resort’s Jerald Rivera is fouled by Kanoa Resort’s Mico Usi, left, while the latter’s teammate, Douglas Schmidt, tries to provide help defense during the third quarter of Game 1 of their title duel in the TanHoldings caging last Friday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan hung tough in the homestretch to pull off a 91-90 victory over Kanoa Resort in their title duel in the 2016 TanHoldings Inter-Company Basketball League last Friday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium.

With its one-point win, Fiesta forced a do-or-die Game 2 against Kanoa, which holds a twice-to-beat advantage in the finals after sweeping the first two games in the double-elimination playoffs. The rubber match will be played this Friday at 7pm.

Arjay Nonato, Jerald Rivera, Adonis Macoto, and Fradel Sedillo delivered key baskets to help Fiesta hand Kanoa its first loss of the season since sweeping the 10 games in the elimination.

Nonato leaned in for a banked shot to give Fiesta a precarious one-point lead, 91-90, 22.4 seconds left on the clock. Kanoa sued for time as it mapped out a plan to regain the upper hand. However, the strategy did not materialize, as Douglas Schmidt drove to the middle against three Fiesta defenders and lost possession. Kanoa after the error was forced to commit a foul to stop the clock.

Rivera trooped to the foul line, but muffed both charities. Fortunately, Nonato went for the offensive board and because he did not have clear control of the ball, he tapped it out to Macoto, who was underneath the basket. Macoto then threw a cross pass to Rivera, who went on to lob the ball to Elmer Esdrelon, allowing Fiesta to waste precious time, as Kanoa momentarily had a mental lapses, failing to give up a quick foul. Finally, Ernest Duenas was charged with the foul on Esdrelon with just .09 of a second left on the clock and Fiesta starting to celebrate its big win.

Esdrelon faltered on his first free throw attempt and intentionally missed the second one, which bounced off strong to the board, and timed expired with neither team in clear possession.

Kanoa failed to wrap up the finals after squandering a 6-point lead, 87-81, going into the last 2:18 of the match. Back-to-back baskets from Macoto brought the deficit down to a deuce, 85-87, before a Matt Deunas split free throw upped Kanoa’s lead to 3, 88-85, 1:16 left on the clock.

Sedillo was then fouled on the other end and blew a chance to move Fiesta closer, however he quickly redeemed himself as he got the offensive rebound and made a point-blanked shot to threaten Kanoa, 87-88. An airball shot from beyond the arc from Dindo Pablo returned possession to Fiesta, which got a basket from Rivera from the baseline to take the lead, 89-88, down to the final 38.6 seconds of Game 1.

The seesaw battle continued as Pablo was fouled on Kanoa’s next possession and he went 2-for-2 to reclaim the driver’s seat. However, not for long, as Nonato banked the go-ahead basket and his team kept the shaky lead after Schmidt had a crucial error and Kanoa failed to secure the rebound after Rivera’s back-to-back misses from the stripe.

Kanoa finished the game without Matt Duenas, who hurt his left knee again with 1:01 left in the fourth quarter and his team clinging to an 88-87 advantage. Earlier at the 4:07 mark of the third period with Fiesta on top by just one, 58-57, he was forced to return to the bench after ramming his knee against a Fiesta defender. Duenas suffered a double blackeye as he was called for an offensive foul too.

The burly forward went back to the court with six minute and change left in the game and his 4 straight points helped Kanoa regain the lead, 83-81, going into the last three minutes of the match. Fiesta once had a 5-point edge, 81-76, but fired blanks in its next six possessions, allowing Kanoa to recover.

The back-and-forth game was the theme of the Fiesta-Kanoa duel, beginning in the second quarter. Before the seesaw battle, Kanoa managed to take a 26-18 lead at the end of the first quarter, while the second ended in a deadlock, 45-all, and the third had Kanoa ahead by only two, 68-66.

In the final quarter, Fiesta kept Kanoa within striking distance, thanks to Sedillo, who knocked in all his 12 points in the payoff period, including 6 straight markers early in that canto.

Nonato and Rivera top-scored for Fiesta, making 19 points apiece, while Matt Duenas paced Kanoa with his 24 markers.

Fiesta 91— Nonato 19, Rivera 19, Esdrelon 14, Sedillo 12, Quizon 9, Matsutaro 6, Macoto 6, Demafelix 4, Galag 2.

Kanoa 90 — M. Duenas 24, Schmidt 23, Pablo 16, E. Duenas 9, Usi 7, Sacramento 6, Bustillo 3, Villagomez 2.

Scoring by quarters: 18-26, 45-45, 66-68, 91-90.