{"id":402122,"date":"2023-11-13T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=402122"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Checkpoint-upsets-Easy-Riders-in-open-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Checkpoint-upsets-Easy-Riders-in-open-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"Checkpoint upsets Easy Riders in open finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Checkpoint cleared the area and paved the way for a huge 83-58 win over erstwhile undefeated Easy Riders in the winner-take-all championships of the Inaugural SMEC-SMLEG Invitational Basketball Tournament 2023 late into last Saturday night at a jam-packed Gualo Rai Basketball Court.<\/p>\n

There were crises on the court as tensions were high from hotly contested foul calls that wreaked havoc on a foul-riddled Easy Riders team.<\/p>\n

Toward the end of the last quarter, Checkpoint already had a huge 76-58 lead. After a few technical call toward Easy Riders, tensions flared up even more and the game stalled for a few minutes as referees held a discussion.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t matter anyway as Checkpoint\u2019s Jeff Castro missed all his free throws. From there, with less than two minutes left, Easy Riders had abandoned ship and wasted time as they showed no effort toward making a basket anymore until the final seconds ran out.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 7 more points were made by Checkpoint\u2019s Coby Santos and Tony Kim.<\/p>\n

From the opening jump ball, both teams were evenly matched as they had previously gone up against each other in the semis and it was clear that it was going to be a rough four quarters that would leave spectators on the edge of their seats.<\/p>\n

Checkpoints\u2019 Coby Santos set up the plays almost perfectly every time as the once-powerful Easy Riders were brought to their knees by apparent missed calls and missed opportunities.<\/p>\n

Checkpoint had more open shots that were converted from downtown and from inside the paint, with Keith and Coby Santos a threat with their offensive push and Juan Camacho and Sid Quan\u2019s halfcourt presses and man-to-man defense\u2014while Easy Riders\u2019 rush plays and drives came up mostly empty-handed.<\/p>\n

It was the beginning of the end for Easy Riders as the second half dawned with Checkpoint landing 3-point after 3-point shot by Jack Aranda, Kim, Castro, and Coby, and their defense holding up against an aggressive and hot-headed Easy Riders team.<\/p>\n

Easy Riders didn\u2019t give up and tried to close in from a once 11-point Checkpoint lead that they whittled down to 7 points in the second quarter, but they couldn\u2019t do more damage as turnovers and interceptions were converted into buckets by Checkpoint held them at bay.<\/p>\n

In the end, Coby racked up 19 points, Keith Santos scored 15, and Jeff Castro collected 12 markers. For Easy Riders, Frank Ferrer came away with 17 points, Cris Diwa made 13, and Austin Camacho put up 12 points.<\/p>\n

Checkpoint team captain Aranda said after the game, \u201cthe finals game was great. Honestly, tonight was a team effort. The boys brought out the energy. They did really well tonight and kudos to the team.\u201d As for Easy Riders, he said, \u201cI put my hands up and my hat’s off to Easy Riders. They’re a great team, you know, but tonight I think we played phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said there was actually not much of a strategy going up against Easy Riders, \u201cIt was more like giving the time to the boys that didn’t play. So tonight, I wasn’t really worried because I know my teammates can play the game as well. Hat’s off to my teammates because they did a phenomenal job tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the turning point of the game was toward the third quarter when they started to pull further away from the Easy Riders. \u201cThey were fighting back, but I think the boys holding their composure was the best part about this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then thanked their sponsor Checkpoint and the Eagles Club for a great tournament. Checkpoint was coached by Erwin Lumanlan and Albert Agustin.<\/p>\n

Results of the master\u2019s division championships and other awards will be posted in the next editions of Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n

Checkpoint 83 \u2013<\/strong> C. Santos 19, K. Santos 15, Castro 12, Flores 8, Kim 8, Aranda 8, Sablan 6, Quan 4, Dela Cruz 2, Camacho 1.<\/p>\n

Easy Riders 58 \u2013<\/strong> Ferrer 17, Diwa 13, Camacho 12, Velasco 8, Directo 2, Padayao 2, Ashburn 2, De Guzman 2.<\/p>\n

Scoring by quarters:<\/strong> 18-11, 34-22, 50-39, 83-58.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Checkpoint takes a group photo after their championship win against Easy Riders in the Inaugural SMEC-SMLEG Invitational Basketball Tournament 2023 last Saturday night at the Gualo Rai Basketball Court.<\/p>\n

-LEIGH GASES
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

Checkpoint’s Jeff Castro goes for a jumper but is fouled by Easy Riders’ Cris Diwa during their winner-take-all championship game of the Inaugural SMEC-SMLEG Invitational Basketball Tournament 2023 last Saturday night at a jam-packed Gualo Rai Basketball Court.<\/p>\n

-LEIGH GASES
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

Checkpoints team captain Jack Aranda, center, holding trophy, poses with his championship team along with Saipan Maga’haga Lady Eagles Club and Saipan Magalahi Eagles Club during the awards ceremony last Saturday night at the Gualo Rai Basketball Court.<\/p>\n

-LEIGH GASES
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Checkpoint cleared the area and paved the way for a huge 83-58 win over erstwhile…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402122","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}