Ballers, Ol’Aces gain semis berths

The Ol’Aces’ Jeff Deleon Guerrero, center, protects the ball on his way to a layup against the defense of JP World Ballers’ Ignacio Borja during their regular season game in the island-wide caging at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. The Ol’Aces and JP World are now in the semifinals after eliminating their playoff foes last Tuesday night.
(Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The JP World Ballers and Ol’Aces booked the first two semis tickets in the 2016 Island-wide Men’s Basketball League after knocking out their respective playoff foes last Tuesday night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

The Ol’Aces made it first to the semifinals after a 118-84 rout of NMI Rollers in the curtain-raiser, while JP World followed suit as it downed Kagman Rizers in the second match, 82-73.

Lerio Pagarao and Ken Viray teamed up in JP World’s victory, as they combined for more than half of the team’s total production. Pagarao had a game-high 22 points, while Viray chipped in 21. Majority of Pagarao and Viray’s outputs came in the second half as they kept JP World in front against the young crew of Kagman.

Kagman got 17 points from Melvin Sakisat and 16 each from Nak Nakashima and Andrew Palino in a losing effort. Djay Ong was the fourth Kagman player to hit double figures with his 13.

Rolly Paraiso had only 7 markers for JP World, but 5 of them came in the homestretch and spelled the difference in their 9-point win. Viray nailed JP World’s last field goal and recorded 8 points of the team’s final 15 markers.

In the other playoff game, Douglas Schimdt sizzled for 46 points to tow the Ol’Aces to the easy win against another young team—the NMI Rollers.

With Schimdt’s guns blazing, the Ol’Aces established an early double-digit spread, 26-14, and were way ahead by halftime, 58-26. NMI Rollers never made headway in the second half, allowing the unbeaten Ol’Aces to ease their way to the semis and extend their streak to 10 after sweeping the round-robin regular season.

Schimdt’s capped the Ol’Aces’ demolition of NMI Rollers by logging 20 points in the fourth quarter and his team’s last 10. And as if Schimdt’s explosive offensive game was not enough, the Ol’Aces also drew a steady performance from Freddie Pelisamen and Marvin Rabauliman, who contributed 18 apiece. Mike Babauta added 12.

Jehthro Cruz paced NMI Rollers with his 21 points.

Meanwhile, the playoff round continues tonight with Blue Haus meeting CES Electronics at 6:30pm and the Runnin’ Rebels battling the 670 Sonics at 8pm. The winner of the Blue Haus-CES tiff will duel JP World in the first semis match on Tuesday, while the victor in the Runnin’ Rebels-670 Sonics game will challenge the Ol’Aces in the other Final Four pairing on the same day at 8pm.

First Game
Ol’Aces 118 — Schmidt 46, Pelisamen 18, Rabauliman 18, Babauta 12, Lizama 4, Basa 4, Barcinas 2, Deleon Guerrero 2.
NMI Rollers 84 — Cruz 21, Ogumoro 16, Alipio 11, Dancoe 10, Tengco 6, Darag 4, Babauta 4, Factor 3, Dela Cruz 3, Nakayama 3, Abobo 2.
Scoring by quarters: 26-14, 58-26, 86-48, 118-84.

Second Game
JP World Ballers 82 — Pagarao 22, Viray 21, Paraiso 7, Lilles 6, Lauron 6, Borja 5, Camacho 4, Ferrer 3.
Kagman Rizerz 73 — Sakisat 17, Nakashima 16, Palino 16, Ong 13, Muna 6, Jones 4, Moses 2.