GMJ/IKKI, Islander win division titles

GMJ/IKKI Wholesale rallied past Blue Haus to clinch the west division title, while Islander weathered MJD Enterprise’s second-quarter storm to take the east championship in the 2015 San Antonio Community Action Network Basketball League last Saturday at the San Antonio court.

Islander played in the first title match of the night and eked out a 79-75 win versus MJD, while GMJ/IKKI clawed its way back from a double-digit deficit to pull off an 81-75 victory against Blue Haus in the second finals game.

GMJ/IKKI, which was once down by 15 early in the second quarter, 15-30, patiently overhauled Blue Haus’ lead and completed the from-behind win after getting a couple of defensive stops from Juan Camacho and making crucial free throws in the homestretch.

The first charity came from Chris Esteves’ split and gave GMJ/IKKI its biggest lead in the match, 77-71, with still 1:39 left in the game. Esteves was fouled and went to the 15-foot line after GMJ/IKKI took possession as Camacho wrestled the ball away from the hands of Bart Demapan in Blue Haus’ front court.

A quick 2 from Brendon Talania’s baseline jumper kept Blue Haus in the match, 73-77, and it had a chance to move closer after Camacho missed a hurried triple with the 24-second shot clock almost down. Blue Haus’ Angelo Fernando got the loose ball after Camacho’s attempt and sprinted to their frontcourt for the fastbreak play, however the latter chased the former and challenged the layup. Fernando eventually overshot his mark, while Camacho collared the rebound and passed it to Esteves, who was again fouled on his way to the basket.

Esteves this time hit the pair of charities for their 79-73 advantage and GMJ/IKKI went on to knock in two more free throws off J.R. Barrios and Ignacio Borja’s splits, while Blue Haus missed two triples, typifying the squad’s monumental collapse.

Blue Haus earlier threatened to pull away in the final after Elmer Esdrelon canned a step-back triple to cap their 12-1 run in the first two minutes of the second canto. GMJ/IKKI pressed the panic button after that and began working its back into the game behind Elgene Mangali and Esteves.

Mangali had 6 points in the second canto, while Esteves recorded 7, including GMJ/IKKI’s last 5 points, which the former scored all from the foul line to end the quarter with his team down by only 5, 30-35.

Blue Haus, which opened a double-digit spread after moving the ball well and getting a lot of points from their backdoor plays in the first half, was stuck to 30 markers for awhile before saving 5 more points to keep the driver’s seat at the break. It eventually lost the upper hand in the opening minutes of the third, 39-37, as GMJ/IKKI continued to fight back. The game remained close since then with the opposing teams having a lot lead changes and deadlocks.

The last standoff was at the 4:23 mark (65-all) before GMJ/IKKI launched a short 11-6 run capped by Mangali’s putback off Esteves’ airball shot from beyond the arc for their 76-71 advantage.

While GMJ/IKKI had to rally past Blue Haus, it was a different tale for Islander, which withstood MJD’s comeback bid to take the east championship.

Islander built an early double-figure lead in the first quarter, 27-16, but squandered it as MJD moved within 2 by halftime, 35-37. MJD recovered behind the 10 markers of Freddie Pelisamen in the second period, 8 of them were made in succession.

Pelisamen kept going early in the third with his triple putting MJD in the lead for the first time, 42-39 since the 3-2 count. However, Dixon Kwon answered with his own shot from downtown to tie the match.

With Pelisamen hurting the Islander on offense, the eventual division champion switched from zone to man-to-man defense and the move paid off as the MJD gunner was neutralized and Islander regained the lead, 59-52, with one quarter to go.

Islander protected the driver’s seat in the final period and was poised to close out the match early after taking a 78-72 advantage, down to the last 20. 9 seconds in the game. However, MJD made a last-minute push as Paul Bautista drilled a turnaround jumper from the left baseline and drew a foul on Kwon. Bautista completed the and-1 play to cut the deficit to 3, 75-78, and MJD gave up a preemptive foul on Kelvin Fitial in the ensuing play to stop the clock, that read 14.1 seconds.

Fitial hit the first charity and missed the second one, but he picked up the offensive rebound, as he knew the ball would land to the left side of the shaded lane. He was fouled anew and missed both free throws, but Alex Lauron was there for another important rebound and Islander players did a good job moving away from MJD defenders to avoid getting fouled as they melted the clock.

First Game
Islander 79 – Kwon 18, Factor 16, Fitial 11, Lauron 11, Babauta 7, Diaz 7, Manibusan 3, Lee 2, Malonzo 2, Tenorio 2.

MJD 75 – Pelisamen 33, Lizama 15, De Guzman 8, Peredo 8, Estolas 5, Bautista 3, Gapor 3.

Scoring by quarters: 27-16, 37-35, 59-52

Second Game
GMJ/IKKI 81 – Mangali 22, Esteves 18, Camacho 10, Borja 9, Barrios 6, Villacrusis 6, Ferrer 5, Oyala 2, Litulumar 2, Cortez 1.

Blue Haus 75 – Talania 16, Fernando 12, Esdrelon 11, Demapan 10, De Dios 10, Manalo 8, Velasco 6, Berline 1.

Scoring by quarters: 14-18, 30-35, 57-58, 81-75.