{"id":318959,"date":"2020-03-11T06:04:13","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T20:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=318959"},"modified":"2020-03-11T06:04:13","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T20:04:13","slug":"2nd-half-surge-lifts-blue-eagle-to-title-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/2nd-half-surge-lifts-blue-eagle-to-title-win\/","title":{"rendered":"2nd-half surge lifts Blue Eagle to title win"},"content":{"rendered":"
Blue Eagle\u2019s Brendon Talania\u2019s shot, right, is challenged by Shirley\u2019s Coffee Shop\u2019s Greg Sablan during the first half of their title match in the Open Division of the United Filipino Organization IT&E 2019 Basketball League last Sunday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Kimberly A. Bautista)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blue Eagle clinched the Open Division crown in the United Filipino Organization IT&E 2019 Basketball League following a 100-82 win over Shirley\u2019s Coffee Shop last Sunday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

After engaging Shirley\u2019s Coffee Shop in a seesaw battle in the first half, the Blue Eagle glided past its opponent in the second en route to the 18-point winning margin in the one-game finale.<\/p>\n

The first half ended with Shirley\u2019s ahead by a deuce, 55-57, but that precarious lead was easily overhauled by the Blue Eagle, as Douglas Schmidt, Jaymark De Guzman, and Jack Lizama teamed up in the pivotal third-quarter surge. De Guzman scored 9 points, Schmidt added 8, and Lizama chipped in 5 to hand Blue Eagle an 80-68 advantage.<\/p>\n

Shirley\u2019s, after going toe-to-toe with the favored Blue Eagle, fell behind in the third period, as its gunners fired blanks in the penultimate frame. Matt Duenas, who finished the half with 19 points, was held to one field goal in the third canto and no Shirley\u2019s player made more than one basket in that period. John Jugos was the top scorer for Shirley\u2019s in the third canto after knocking in two triples.<\/p>\n

Duenas continued to struggle in the fourth quarter, leaving Freddie Pelisamen the tough task of bringing Shirley\u2019s back into title contention. However, Pelisamen\u2019s efforts were no match to Blue Eagle\u2019s balance offense, as the eventual champion still drew baskets from Lizama and De Guzman, while Preston Basa and Ponce Rasa also hit the board for the squad to keep their comfortable lead.<\/p>\n

Schmidt led six Blue Eagle players in double figures, as he finished with 24 points. Lizama added 16, De Guzman logged 14, Bart Demapan and Basa chipped in 12 apiece, and Darwin Barbo recorded 10.<\/p>\n

Duenas still paced Shirley\u2019s with his 23 points, while Pelisamen contributed 15. Gerald Flores also had twin digits with 10, but was held to one field goal in the entire second half.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Eats Easy The Game won the consolation match against Islander Rent A Car last Saturday, 85-79.<\/p>\n

Jun Fidelino delivered 29 points, while Michael Torregoza and Prince Factor recorded 18 and 14, respectively. The trio scored all of Eats Easy\u2019s baskets in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Shirley\u2019s Coffee Shop\u2019s Dennis Mendiola, center, splits the defense of Blue Eagle\u2019s Darwin Barbo, left, and Preston Basa during the second half of their title match in the Open Division of the United Filipino Organization IT&E 2019 Basketball League last Sunday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Kimberly A. Bautista)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finals<\/strong>
\nBlue Eagle 100\u2014Schmidt 24, Lizama 16, De Guzman 14, Basa 12, Demapan 12, Barbo 10, Rasa 4, Ashburn 3, Libuw 3, Talania 2.
\nShirley\u2019s 82\u2014Duenas 25, Pelisamen 15, Flores 10, Mendiola 8, Jugos 6, Lisua 5, Diaz 5, Aranda 5, Sablan 3.
\nScoring by quarters: 27-28, 55-57, 80-68, 100-82.<\/p>\n

Third Place<\/strong>
\nEats Easy 85\u2014Fidelino 29, Torregoza 18, Factor 14, Erdene 4, Arellano 7, Cabaltica 4, Sablan 3, Dayao 2.
\nIslander 79\u2014Mintac 24, Pastrano 20, Viray 13, Andrew 10, Rotual 8, Mangali 4, Santos 4.
\nScoring by quarters: 30-20, 44-49, 66-65, 85-79.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blue Eagle clinched the Open Division crown in the United Filipino Organization IT&E 2019 Basketball…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":318960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[13604],"class_list":["post-318959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-blue-eagle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318959","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=318959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}