{"id":269732,"date":"2018-02-08T06:04:33","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T20:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=269732"},"modified":"2018-02-08T06:04:33","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T20:04:33","slug":"shirleys-keeps-playoff-hopes-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/shirleys-keeps-playoff-hopes-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Shirley\u2019s keeps playoff hopes alive"},"content":{"rendered":"
Shirley\u2019s Coffee Shop\u2019s Duncan Laxa, left, escapes with a fastbreak layup, while POI Aviation\u2019s Jesse Santos looks on during the second half of their game in the 2017 Tan Holdings Inter-Company Basketball League late last month at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shirley\u2019s Coffee Shop boosted its playoff chances heading into the closing stage of the elimination round in the 2017 Tan Holdings Inter-Company Basketball League.<\/p>\n

Shirley\u2019s improved to a 3-4 record following a 77-60 victory over POI Aviation last Jan. 26 at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium. With the win, Shirley\u2019s moved up to the No. 4 spot in the team standings, tying POI. <\/p>\n

Only the Top 4 teams will advance to the playoffs and Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan (7-0) and Kanoa Resort (5-3) have already secured two of the tickets to the next round, leaving Saipan Tribune (4-3), Shirley\u2019s, and POI to battle for the two remaining berths.<\/p>\n

John Jugos and Duncan Laxa teamed up in towing Shirley\u2019s to its third victory as they combined for more than half of the squad\u2019s total production. Jugos exploded for 29 points, while Laxa added 26. Junar Guiab was the third Shirley\u2019s player to score in twin digits with his 12 markers. <\/p>\n

Shirley\u2019s was on target from beyond the arc, knocking in nine triples to ease past POI, which dropped four of its last five games after having a 2-0 start. Jesse Santos led POI with his 14 markers.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Fiesta Resort won anew the duel between last year\u2019s finalists after downing defending champion Kanoa Resort in the curtain-raiser, 55-49.<\/p>\n

Fiesta withstood Kanoa Resort\u2019s comeback bid in the second half, as the former held the latter\u2019s gunner, Douglas Schmidt, to two field goals at the halfway mark of that period. Before slowing down, Schmidt scored 12 points\u20148 straight to end the first half\u2014at the break and drilled 5 of Kanoa Resort\u2019s first 7 markers in the second frame.<\/p>\n

While Schmidt was a bit quiet in the latter part of the second half, Fiesta Resort\u2019s Lerio Pagarao put on a show in the final period, firing 16 straight points. Pagarao had only 2 markers in the first half, which ended with Fiesta ahead by double figures, 34-24, thanks to the 12 points of Elmer Esdrelon, who made all his baskets from downtown.<\/p>\n

Esdrelon was then shut down in the second half, leaving Pagarao to carry the cudgels for Fiesta and foil Kanoa Resort\u2019s comeback bid.<\/p>\n

In other results, Saipan Tribune defeated Lower Base in the third game, 55-49, to climb to third place in the team standings.<\/p>\n

Young guns Hark Galarion and Lester Lapuz delivered for Saipan Tribune with the former logging a game-high 20 points and the latter chipping in 17. Matthew Ong also finished in twin digits with his 11 markers, as he joined forces with Galarion and Lapuz in giving Saipan Tribune a 32-25 halftime advantage.<\/p>\n

Saipan Tribune then kept the driver\u2019s seat in the second half behind the strong finish of Lapuz, who recorded 13 points in that period and scored 7 of the squad\u2019s last 10 markers.<\/p>\n

Saipan Tribune will shoot for win No. 5 that would further boost its playoff chances when it takes on Fiesta tomorrow at 7pm. In the first game at 6pm, POI will face Lower Base, while in the third match at 8pm, it will be Shirley\u2019s against Kanoa Resort.<\/p>\n

First Game<\/strong>
\nFiesta Resort 55 \u2014 Pagarao 18, Esdrelon 12, Nonato 7, Arreza 4, Ngirarois 4, Sedillo 4, Quizon 4, Francisco 2.
\nKanoa Resort 49 \u2014 Schmidt 21, Pablo 17, Francisco 4, Joab 3, Encarnacion 2, Bustillo 2.
\nScoring by halves: 34-24, 55-49.<\/p>\n

Second Game<\/strong>
\nShirley\u2019s 77 \u2014 Jugos 29, Laxa 26, Guiab 14, Alonzo 4, Palma 4.
\nPOI 60 \u2014 Santos 14, Yu 12, Kaipat 9, Nakashima 7, Dee 4, Deleon Guerrero 3, Guevarra 3, Mendiola 2, Bait 2, Delos Santos 2.
\nScoring by halves: 37-30, 77-60.<\/p>\n

Third Game<\/strong>
\nSaipan Tribune 55 \u2014 Galarion 20, Lapuz 17, M. Ong 11, Angeles 4, De La Torre 3.
\nLower Base 49 \u2014 Riungel 13, Kenty 12, Echavez 7, Jinang 7, Fujihira 6, W. Benavente 4.
\nScoring by halves: 32-25, 55-49.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shirley\u2019s Coffee Shop boosted its playoff chances heading into the closing stage of the elimination…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":269739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[448,187,11966,38],"class_list":["post-269732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-kanoa-resort","tag-lower-base","tag-poi","tag-saipan-tribune"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269732","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=269732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}