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PIC clinches Inter-Hotel caging crown
Pacific Island Club’s Jack Aranda drives against Shirley’s Coffee Shop/Century Hotel’s Erick Dela Rosa during the third quarter of their title game in the Inter-Hotel caging last Friday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
PIC showed no signs of rust after the one-game finals was delayed for more than a week due to the availability of the Ada Gym and both teams.
The Noel Verder-mentored squad used their height advantage to the hilt in pulling away midway in the second period.
Shirley’s big man Erick Dela Rosa and sweet-shooting John Jugos kept their team within striking distance, 24-21, with barely two minutes gone in the second.
But PIC used a 7-0 spurt to erect a 10-point bubble that further ballooned as the game went on.
Shirley’s could not find an answer for PIC’s full-court trapping defense that prevented them to set up their offense. A number of times Shirley’s ballhandlers committed back court violations that further hurt their campaign.
There were times that Shirley’s managed to get the ball on their frontcourt but PIC’s defense was still there, using a 2-3 zone that blocked the driving lanes while their outside shooters couldn’t also find their mark.
PIC enjoyed a 43-33 halftime lead then completely broke the game wide open with a 13-3 exchange to erect the first of several 20-point leads.
Shirley’s failed to come up with a decent rally after that with shooter Rommel Usi and veteran playmaker Fredel Sedillo riding the bench for most of the game for unknown reasons.
The closest that they could get was at 19, 66-47, on Dela Rosa’s coast-to-coast layup with two minutes and 54 seconds left in the third.
PIC’s biggest lead was at 86-58 in the three-minute mark of the contest with the final score the only thing left to be settled.
Bart Demapan paced PIC with 19 points, while veteran James Abuy and the youthful Jack Aranda chipping in 18 and 17 markers.
Darwin Barbo had a quiet 15 points and made several unselfish plays setting up teammates Demapan and Aranda.
Dela Rosa led Shirley’s losing cause with 21 points, Jugos finished with 15, while Usi and Angel Catungal combined for 20 markers.
Pacific Islands Club 94 – Demapan 19, Abuy 18, Aranda 17, Barbo 15, Hambros 9, Quitugua 8, Babauta 2, Bartolo 2, Tolentino 2.
Shirley’s-Century Hotel 69 – Dela Rosa 21, Jugos 15, Catungal 10, Usi 10, Aguilar 9, Manibusan 2, Rabasto 2.
Scoring by quarters: 22-15, 43-33, 72-47, 94-69. (Jon Perez)
