Sweep for Kanoa Resort; playoff round starts today

Kanoa Resort’s Rodney Sacramento catches an alley-oop pass from Douglas Schmidt while Shirley’s Coffee Shop’s Ariel Drilon looks on during the first half of their game in the Tan Holdings caging last Friday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Kanoa Resort finished the elimination round of the 2016 Tan Holdings Inter-Company Basketball League unbeaten following a 73-28 demolition of Shirley’s Coffee Shop last Friday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium.

Kanoa wrapped up the double-round robin regular season with a 10-0 record to gain the top seeding in the playoff round, which will be played today. The top-ranked Kanoa will duel the fourth-seeded JP Mambas in the opening of the double-elimination playoffs, while No. 3 Shirley’s (6-4) will take on No. 2 Fiesta Resort (7-3). Fiesta kept the second spot going into the playoffs after downing Lower Base (3-7) in the last regular season match, 72-62.

In the penultimate elimination game, Kanoa was never threatened to stretch its winning streak to 10. Shirley’s failed to contain Douglas Schmidt early, as the former Palau National Team member scored 13 points, matching their foe’s entire output to give Kanoa a double-digit lead at the break, 38-13.

Schmidt remained on target in the second half, dropping 11 straight markers in the early goings of the final frame before finishing what he started as he drained Kanoa’s last 9 points to complete their domination of Shirley’s.

The Kanoa gunner ended up outgunning the whole Shirley’s crew after logging 33 points. Ernest Duenas and Dindo Pablo were the other double-figure scorers for Kanoa, adding 17 and 11, respectively. Erick Dela Rosa paced Shirley’s with his 12 points.

In the last game, Fiesta eliminated Lower Base after drawing solid games from Jarrett Matsutaro and Paul Quizon.

Matsutaro recorded 25 points and was consistent on offense for Fiesta, drilling 12 in the first half to lift his team to a 33-22 advantage. Quizon made only 6 in the opening 20 minutes of play, but finish strong to help Fiesta retain its safe distance against Lower Base. Jerald Rivera contributed 14 in Fiesta’s double-digit victory over.

Lower Base failed to advance to the playoff round after losing in the tiebreak against JP Mambas, which matched the former’s 3-7 mark after a win via forfeiture against Pacific Oriental, Inc. in the first game last Friday. League officials broke the tie (based on tournament ground rules) by combining the tied teams scores in 10 games and dividing it by the total scores of their opponents. JP Mambas ended up with an average of 0.818 to beat the 0.757 of Lower Base.

Meanwhile, the Kanoa-JP Mambas tiff has been scheduled as Game 1 and will be played at 6:30pm, while Game 2 between Shirley’s and Fiesta is set for 8:30pm. Winners in Games 1 and 2 will battle for the first finals berth in Game 3 next Friday, while losers will collide in a rubber Game 4. The victor in Game 4 will then meet the loser in Game 3 in the fight for the last finals ticket on Sept. 2. Game 1 of the finals will then be played on Sept. 9, while Game 2, if needed, will take place on Sept. 16.

First Game
Kanoa Resort 73 — Schmidt 33, E. Duenas 17, Pablo 11, Sacramento 8, Bustillo 2, Usi 1.

Shirley’s 28 — Dela Rosa 12, Drilon 4, Pamintuan 4, Jugos 4, Catungal 3.

Scoring by halves: 38-13, 73-28.

Second Game
Fiesta 72 — Matsutaro 25, Quizon 20, Rivera 14, Esdrelon 8, Macoto 5.

Lower Base 62 — Fujihira 17, Jinang 14, Santos 13, W. Benavente 13, Riungel 3, Camu 2, Alegre 2.

Scoring by halves: 33-22, 72-62.