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Alberto\u2019s Catering survived IT&E, 62-60, in the first round of the playoffs in the 2019 Civic Center Basketball League last Saturday in Susupe.<\/p>\n
Elgene Mangali, Gerald Rivera, Frank Ferrer, and Jet Jandoc teamed up in the fourth quarter to thwart IT&E\u2019s comeback bid and hand Alberto\u2019s the first semis ticket in Group A. Mangali and Rivera scored 5 points each in the final canto with the former making three important free throws, while the latter knocked in a deuce and a triple. Ferrer also had a trey in the fourth period, while Jandoc contributed 2, as Alberto\u2019s hung on in the end after squandering a double-digit lead.<\/p>\n
Alberto\u2019s was on top by 10 after the third period, 47-37, but was threatened in the fourth frame when Ivan Devero and Errol Peredo joined forces in bringing IT&E back into the game. Devero fired 9 of his 21 markers in the final period, while Peredo had 8 of his 18 in that canto. However, they were the only IT&E players to make more than 2 points in the pivotal fourth and their team failed to complete the rally to bid the tournament goodbye.<\/p>\n
IT&E was paired against Alberto\u2019s in the first round of the playoffs, as the former finished No. 7 in the round-robin regular season with a 2-5 record, while the latter was ranked second behind the unbeaten DC after taking a 5-2 slate.<\/p>\n
Ferrer top-scored in Alberto\u2019s playoff win with his 20 markers, while Mangali and Jandoc also had double figures with 15 and 12, respectively.<\/p>\n
In other results, Lakay bagged the first semis berth in Group B after outclassing 911 Bar & Grill, 64-55.<\/p>\n
It was a come-from-behind win for the No. 5 seed Lakay, thanks to the combined 16 points of Ronald Bernardo, Richard Mendoza, and Jun Alegre in the fourth period. The trio outgunned the entire 911 Bar & Grill in the fourth frame, as only Bernard Montano and Perry Inos scored for the losing squad. Montano tallied 5 points in the final canto, which started with 911 Bar & Grill ahead, 46-44, while Inos added 4. 911 Bar & Grill also led at the end of the first two quarters, 17-14, 30-25, before losing the driver\u2019s seat in the fourth.<\/p>\n
Mendoza delivered 18 points in Lakay\u2019s upset over 911 Bar & Grill, while Bernardo contributed 16. Alegre had 9, with 8 of them coming in the second half. Inos recorded a game-high 28 points on a losing effort.<\/p>\n
Meawhile, the first round of the playoffs continued last night with NMI Contractors scheduled to duel Loving Hands. NMI Contractors finished third in Group B with its 2-5 record, while Loving Hands was ranked No. 3 after posting a 5-2 mark.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow, four more teams will start their playoff campaigns with Group A\u2019s DC battling the Hoops (2-5) in the 6pm match and No. 6 Marianas Variety (2-5) challenging No. 3 The Game (4-3). Then on Saturday, the pairings will be No. 8 Team Batang (0-7) and No. 1 Real Deal (7-0) at 5:30pm and Saipan Vegas (3-3) and Brabu (3-4) at 7pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alberto\u2019s Catering survived IT&E, 62-60, in the first round of the playoffs in the 2019…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":301490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-301489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301489","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=301489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}