{"id":268782,"date":"2018-01-26T06:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T20:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=268782"},"modified":"2018-01-26T06:00:24","modified_gmt":"2018-01-25T20:00:24","slug":"fiesta-kanoa-triumph-anew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/fiesta-kanoa-triumph-anew\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiesta, Kanoa triumph anew"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kanoa Resort\u2019s Sonny Encarnacion, left, muscles his way into the defense of Saipan Tribune\u2019s Ferdie De La Torre during the first half of their game in the 2017 Tan Holdings Inter-Company Basketball League last Friday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last year\u2019s finalists Kanoa Resort and Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan strengthened their hold to the Top 2 spots in the team standings after beating separate opponents in the 2017 Tan Holdings Inter-Company Basketball League last Friday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

Fiesta played in the curtain-raiser last weekend and cruised past POI Aviation, 69-55, while defending champion Kanoa topped Saipan Tribune in the nightcap, 67-58. Shirley\u2019s Coffee Shop joined Fiesta and Kanoa in the winners\u2019 circle after prevailing over Lower Base in the second match, 75-69. Fiesta is undefeated in seven games to remain in first place, while Kanoa is at close second with its 6-1 record and was followed by Saipan Tribune (3-4), POI (3-4), Shirley\u2019s (2-5), and Lower Base (0-7).<\/p>\n

Elmer Esdrelon and Fradel Sedillo helped Fiesta extend its winning streak as they combined for nearly half of their squad\u2019s total output. <\/p>\n

Esdrelon scored a game-high 24 points, while Sedillo chipped in 8. Fiesta\u2019s team captain heated up early, dropping 18 in the first 20 minutes of play and knocking in four triples to lift the pacesetter to a double-digit advantage after the first half, 39-26. Sedillo then picked up up where Esdrelon left off, firing 12 in the second half to complete Fiesta\u2019s domination of POI.<\/p>\n

In the second game, Shirley\u2019s also leaned on two of its players to beat Lower Base. Duncan Laxa and John Jugos teamed up for Shirley\u2019s with the former registering 28 points and the latter contributing 23.<\/p>\n

Laxa delivered 11 straight points for Shirley\u2019s in the first half and finished that period with 15 to keep Lower Base within striking distance, as the latter led by only four at the break, 31-35. <\/p>\n

Lower Base took the driver\u2019s seat in the first half behind the combined 26 points of Elie Kenty and Ariel Jinang. Jinang\u2019s guns were still blazing in the second half, but Kenty went cold and was held to two field goals, while Laxa found an ally in Jugos to put Shirley\u2019s on top and steal the win.<\/p>\n

In the third game, Douglas Schmidt anchored Kanoa\u2019s offense as expected after posting 23 points. He buried crucial triples in the second half and drew enough help from his teammates to foil Saipan Tribune\u2019s repeated comeback bids.<\/p>\n

First Game<\/strong>
\nFiesta Resort 69 \u2014 Esdrelon 24, Sedillo 18, Nonato 8, Arreza 6, Quizon 6, Villamena 4, Demafelix 3.
\nPOI Aviation 55 \u2014 Santos 15, Nakashima 14, Deleon Guerrero 8, Kaipat 6, Arago 4, Kim 2, Mendiola 2.
\nScoring by halves: 39-26, 69-55.<\/p>\n

Second Game<\/strong>
\nShirley\u2019s 75 \u2014 Laxa 28, Jugos 23, Guiab 8, Alonzo 8, Palma 5, Drilon 2.
\nLower Base 69 \u2014 Jinang 27, Kenty 17, W. Benavente 9, J. Benavente 3, Alegre 2, Echavez 2.
\nScoring by halves: 31-35, 75-69.<\/p>\n

Third Game<\/strong>
\nKanoa Resort 67 \u2014 Schmidt 23, Encarnacion 12, Pablo 11, Sison 7, Bustillo 6, Francisco 4, Lumauag 2.
\nSaipan Tribune 58 \u2014 Galarion 25, De La Torre 13, Calayag 7, Calibo 6, M. Ong 4, Rabago 2.
\nScoring by halves: 32-24, 67-58.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year\u2019s finalists Kanoa Resort and Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan strengthened their hold to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":268784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1436,187,11966,38],"class_list":["post-268782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-gillette-multipurpose-gymnasium","tag-lower-base","tag-poi","tag-saipan-tribune"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268782","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=268782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}