{"id":218931,"date":"2016-01-19T06:00:25","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T20:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=218931"},"modified":"2016-01-19T06:00:25","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T20:00:25","slug":"olaces-force-3-way-tie-for-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/olaces-force-3-way-tie-for-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"Ol\u2019Aces force 3-way tie for lead"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
The Ol\u2019Aces\u2019 Leowell Cristobal, right, loses his dribble as he is tightly guarded by a Runnin\u2019 Rebels defender during the first half of their game in the boys U19 division of the Tan Holdings holiday caging last Saturday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Ol\u2019Aces slipped past the Runnin\u2019 Rebeles, 50-47, in the final elimination round game in the boys U19 division of the 2015 Tan Holdings Christmas Basketball Tournament last Saturday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

Irvin Olopai top-scored for the Ol\u2019Aces in their close win after knocking in 11 points, with 7 of them registered in the second half. He recorded 5 straight points in the closing minutes of the match and tallied 7 of the Ol\u2019Aces last 11 markers.<\/p>\n

The Ol\u2019Aces needed a lift from Olopai in the second half as they played catch up with the Runnin\u2019 Rebels, who lived up to their name in the first 20 minutes of play. The Runnin\u2019 Rebels outsprinted the Ol\u2019Aces in the fastbreak plays to build a 17-8 advantage midway in the first half. The Ol\u2019Aces then fought back and managed to move within one at the break, 27-28.<\/p>\n

In the second half, Nak Nakashima took over in the opening minutes, scoring 6 consecutive points, while Aiferson Atan added 4 before Olopai stepped up to close out for the Ol\u2019Aces.<\/p>\n

With the win, the Ol\u2019Aces are in a three-way standoff for the lead, joining the Sonics and Rollers 1. The three squads finished the round-robin elimination with similar 3-1 records.<\/p>\n

The Sonics foiled Rollers 1\u2019s bid for a sweep after earning a 63-58 victory last Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Sonics hit important free throws in the end to hand Rollers 1 its first loss in the tournament. Gerald Flores made a pair, while Bryan De Guzman also had two charities and nailed the Sonics\u2019 last 4 points. <\/p>\n

Mii Tekopua led the Sonics in scoring with his 12 points, while Flores finished with 9. Mike Arciaga had 21 for Rollers 1.<\/p>\n

With the Rollers 1, Sonics, and Ol\u2019Aces in a deadlock for the top spot, they are all assured of the playoff spots, but tournament organizers need to break the tie to determine the pairings in the semifinals. Rollers 2 completed the Final Four cast with its 1-3 mark, while the Runnin\u2019 Rebels are eliminated. In the semis, which will be played this Saturday, the pairings are No. 1 versus No. 4 and No. 2 against No. 3.<\/p>\n

Saturday Game<\/strong>
\nOl\u2019Aces 50\u2014Olopai 11, Nakashima 10, Atan 9, Castillo 9, Francisco 4, Iba 2, Moses 2, Stefano 2, D. Norita 1.
\nRunnin\u2019 Rebels 47\u2014Atalig 14, Sablan 10, Peter 5, Siech 5, Norita 4, Florencio 3, Ngiraroas 2, Jones 2, Tadeo 2.
\nScoring by halves: 27-28, 50-47.<\/p>\n

Thursday Game<\/strong>
\nSonics 63\u2014Tekopua 12, Flores 9, Castro 8, De Guzman 8, Lansang 7, Espinosa 6, Javier 5, Kintaro 4, Feria 2, Borromeo 2.
\nRollers 1 58\u2014 Arciaga 21, Alipio 11, Deocares 7, Je. Cruz 6, Darag 4, Dancoe 2, Factor 2, Ong 2, JP Cruz 2, Ellama 1.
\nScoring by halves: 23-22, 63-58.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ol\u2019Aces slipped past the Runnin\u2019 Rebeles, 50-47, in the final elimination round game in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":218937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8235,1436,1521,8997],"class_list":["post-218931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-bryan-de-guzman","tag-gillette-multipurpose-gymnasium","tag-ol-aces","tag-runnin-rebels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218931","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=218931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}