NMC whips Legislature, PTI wins

Pennant champion Northern Marianas College started its bid for a return trip to the finals on a winning note, clobbering Legislature, 82-68, Monday night during the playoff round in the Inaugural PTI Inter-Government/Business Basketball League at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

NMC made it to last year’s government caging finals, but lost to eventual champion Autonomous (formerly Office of the Public Auditor). Next up for NMC for the second round of the playoffs in the winners’ circle will be the defending champion ATM, which routed the Department of Corrections in the first round (82-68).

The other pairing in the winners’ bracket will be PTI against the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs.

DCCA slipped past Bank of Guam last week, 83-82, while PTI won its first game in the playoffs via forfeiture over Tinian, which told organizers yesterday about its no-show in Tuesday night’s game.

Monday night’s match was cruise control for NMC at the start of the second period after struggling in the first quarter, which ended with the Lawmakers having a precarious one-point lead, 19-18.

When NMC began to get their rhythm in the second period with Mark Wallace leading the break, Legislature showed signs of early surrender, failing to go back to their transition defense.

The result was several easy layups for NMC and a 34-27 halftime lead.

The lead increased to 15 at the end of the third period, 61-46, as Joe Villacrusis’ guns were blazing, as he fired 17 of his 21 points in that canto.

With a comfortable lead and the depleted Legislature lineup showing no signs of getting back into the game, NMC had a luxury of fielding its second stringers in the entire fourth period.

NMC’s bench finished the job which Wallace and Villacrusis started, piling in more points to help the pennant champion’s cause.

The Lawmakers had their worst scoring period in the fourth quarter, making only seven points.

Wallace finished with 20 markers, while the rest of NMC’s bench totaled 22 points.

The Lawmakers played with only six players against NMC. They drew double figures from three players, but these were not enough to prevent them from dropping to the losers’ bracket.

Ernest Duenas led the Lawmakers with 19 points, Joe Punzalan had 16, and Dave Apatang added 12.

Legislature now has to win against Correction to avoid early elimination in the double-round robin playoffs.

NMC 82 – Villacrusis 21, Wallace 20, Manibusan 8, Diaz 8, Villagomez 6, Tumaquip 4, Tomokane 4, Macduff 4, Buniag 2, Roberto 2, Deleon Guerrero 2.

Legislature 68 – E. Duenas 19, Punzalan 16, Apatang 12, R. Duenas 9, Guerrero 8, Guinto 4.

Scoring by quarters: 18-19, 34-27, 61-46, 82-68.

Referees: Gilbert Espinosa and Connie Camacho.