{"id":195273,"date":"2015-03-31T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=195273"},"modified":"2015-03-31T04:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T18:00:00","slug":"settsu-nips-mhs-blue-in-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/settsu-nips-mhs-blue-in-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"Settsu nips MHS Blue in finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Settsu Red Impulse completed its double victory in the 2015 Settsu-Saipan Friendship Basketball Tournament after escaping with a 51-50 win against Marianas High School Blue in their boys title match last Friday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

\"Settsu<\/a>
Settsu Red Impulse\u2019s Tomohiro Ishikawa escapes for a fastbreak layup as Marianas High School Blue\u2019s Michael Espinosa came in late for transition defense during the first half of their title game in the Settsu-Saipan caging last Friday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.
(Roselyn B. Monroyo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tomohiro Ishikawa made the dagger, hitting a pair of pressure-packed free throws in the closing seconds to give Settsu its second championship in the same tournament this year. Earlier, the visiting squad\u2019s female players whipped MHS Blue, 44-27, in their own championship showdown last weekend.<\/p>\n

Ishikawa canned the two important charities after he made a big defensive stop, stealing possession from Irvin Malonzo, who was forced to give up a preemptive foul with the former on the way for a breakaway layup.<\/p>\n

After Ishikawa drilled the two free shots, MHS Blue still had time and opportunities to score, but failed to nail the go-ahead basket to have another bridesmaid finish in the annual tournament. Last year, MHS also lost to the MISO All-Stars by a hair, 68-69.<\/p>\n

Ishikawa top-scored for Settsu with his 20 points, while two other players from the visiting squad also earned double figures. Tatsumi Yamashita chipped in 12, while Taiki Kondo contributed 11.<\/p>\n

Michael Espinosa led MHS Blue\u2019s losing cause with his 19 points, while Prince Factor added 13.<\/p>\n

Factor and Espino alternately carried MHS Blue to their shoulders in the first half, while Ishikawa anchored Settsu and drew help from Yamashita and Kondo to take a precarious 30-25 halftime edge.<\/p>\n

The game remained tight in the second half and there was a seesaw battle in the closing minutes with MHS Blue holding the lead for the last time after Kobee Mendoza split his charities, 50-49. However, the Dolphins failed to hang on to the shaky lead as they turned the ball over in the ensuing play and Ishikawa countered with his back-breaking free throws.<\/p>\n

Settsu advanced to the finals after waltzing past Kagman High School, 32-20, in the semifinal match that was played the same day.<\/p>\n

Yamashita lifted Settsu to the semis victory after tallying 10 markers, while four of his teammates chipped in at least 6 markers apiece en route to the double-digit victory. Kagman had a lackluster performance on offense in its semis showdown with Settsu with no Ayuyus player scoring more than 4 points.<\/p>\n

In the other semis pairing, MHS Blue eliminated Saipan Southern High School, 39-30. Espinosa also top-scored in the Dolphins triumph over the Manta Rays, registering 11.<\/p>\n

Settsu 51 \u2013 Ishikawa 20, Yamashita 12, Kondo 11, Kinumura 6, Eguchi 2.<\/p>\n

MHS Blue 50 \u2013 Espinosa 19, Factor 13, Arciaga 7, De Leon 6, Borja 2, Ong 2, Mendoza 1.<\/p>\n

Scoring by quarters: 30-25, 51-50.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Settsu Red Impulse completed its double victory in the 2015 Settsu-Saipan Friendship Basketball Tournament after…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":195276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[145,3373,3374,3277],"class_list":["post-195273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-ada-gymnasium","tag-irvin-malonzo","tag-michael-espinosa","tag-tomohiro-ishikawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}