{"id":271431,"date":"2018-03-07T06:06:29","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T20:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=271431"},"modified":"2018-03-07T06:06:29","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T20:06:29","slug":"sonics-win-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/sonics-win-season-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Sonics win season opener"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Sonics\u2019 Raven Francisco, right, drives and draws a foul on Ol\u2019Aces Extreme\u2019s Leo Naraja, while the latter\u2019s teammate, Francisco Mizutani, stays close in the play during the second half of their boys U15 division game in the opening of the Diaz youth caging last Monday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sonics played steadier in the homestretch to slip past the Ol\u2019Aces Extreme, 39-34, during the opening game in the 2018 Frank M. Diaz Memorial Youth League last Monday night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

Raven Francisco knocked in important charities in the closing minutes of their boys U15 division game to hand the Sonics a win in their season debut. Francisco went 4-for-4 from the stripe with his first two charities under the two-minute mark giving the Sonics more breathing room.<\/p>\n

Before Francisco\u2019s free throw shots, the Ol\u2019Aces Extreme moved within one, 32-33, after drawing back-to-back baskets from Steve King. The Ol\u2019Aces Extreme then had a chance to grab the lead, but made a couple of misses, while Francisco took matters into his own hands, faked off two defenders, and was fouled.<\/p>\n

The Sonics guard had no problems making the two pressure-packed free throws to give the Sonics a 3-point lead, 35-32. <\/p>\n

The Ol\u2019Aces Extreme then attempted many times to buy a basket, but again faltered. In that possession, the Ol\u2019Aces muffed at least six shots and when the Sonics finally got the rebound, Francisco drove strong to the basket anew and drew the contact. He added two more free throws and countered with a layup after Jess Laniyo drilled the Ol\u2019Aces Extreme\u2019s last basket to peg the final score.<\/p>\n

Francisco was one of the two double-figure scorers for the Sonics, as he finished with 10 points. He registered the Sonics\u2019 first two field goals. Tony Kim top-scored for the winning team with 15, while John Caruana added 8, including back-to-back treys in the first half that ended in standoff, 19-19.<\/p>\n

King led the Ol\u2019Aces Extreme\u2019s losing cause after firing 14 markers.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Ol\u2019Aces avoided a 0-2 performance in the opening day as their U18 crew defeated the Rollers 1 in the second game, 56-42.<\/p>\n

Coby Santos towed the Ol\u2019Aces to their debut win after sizzling for 24 points. N-Nes Siech backed him up, adding 16, while Dean Blake chipped in 9.<\/p>\n

Matthew Richardson had 12 to pace the Rollers 1, which was outplayed at the guard position, with Santos and Siech joining forces and hitting successive baskets.<\/p>\n

Besides the Ol\u2019Aces and Sonics, 11 other teams are entered in the boys U18 division. The Sonics have three squads, while Rollers Basketball Club and the Warriors have two apiece. Completing the field are Ol\u2019Ace Extreme and Ol\u2019Aces Elite, Kagman Sparks, Tinian, and Chinatown Titans.<\/p>\n

In the boys U15 division, the Sonics and Rollers are fielding two teams each and will be joined by Ol\u2019Aces Elite, Young Warriors, and Tinian in the hunt for the championship.<\/p>\n

First Game<\/strong>
\nSonics 39 \u2014 Kim 11, Francisco 10, Caruana 8, Galang 6, Rizo 2, Bartolo 2, Puri 2.
\nOl\u2019Aces Extreme 34 \u2014 King 14, Deleon Guerrero 7, Laniyo 4, Mizutani 4, They 3, Soriano 2.
\nScoring by halves: 19-19, 39-34.<\/p>\n

Second Game<\/strong>
\nOl\u2019Aces 56 \u2014 Santos 24, Siech 16, Blake 9, Abejo 4, Fred 2.
\nRollers 1 42 \u2014 Richardson 12, Ogumoro 6, Duenas 6, Quitugua 5, Factor 4, Hudkins 3, Cruz 2, Tenorio 2.
\nScoring by halves: 36-24, 56-42.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sonics played steadier in the homestretch to slip past the Ol\u2019Aces Extreme, 39-34, during…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":271442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[145,17074,15897,14874],"class_list":["post-271431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-ada-gymnasium","tag-kagman-sparks","tag-ol-aces-elite","tag-ol-aces-extreme"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271431","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=271431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}