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Talaabwogh rallies past MGNEL Construction
The Talaabwogh Stars pulled off a come-from-behind win over MGNEL Construction, 67-65, in the second game in the Mariana Islands Basketball Federation’s Inaugural Men’s Outdoor League last Saturday at the San Antonio court.
Talaabwogh overhauled a 16-point deficit in the third and limited MGNEL Construction to 4 points in the fourth quarter to get its second straight victory in seven games.
MGNEL Construction once held a 59-43 advantage midway in the third period behind the hot 3-point shooting of Mark Ferrer, who buried four triples in the penultimate quarter.
Talaabwogh then fought back late in the third frame and completed its comeback bid in the fourth with Sandrew Kani and Henry Aguon joining forces in the recovery. Kani scored 6 of Talaabwogh’s last 10 points in the third quarter, which ended with MGNEL Construction (2-5) ahead by only 11, 61-50.
Talaabwogh moved closer as Kani was still on fire, while Aguon also found his target. Talaabwogh finally stole the lead in the last two minutes and hung tough in the end to steal the win. Kani tallied 10 points in the fourth frame, while Aguon chipped in 6.
MGNEL’s 4 points in the fourth-quarter collapse were courtesy of the one field goal apiece of Chris Liles and Ferrer.
Aguon paced Talaabwogh with his 19 points, while Kani contributed 18. Ferrer led all scorers with his 23 markers.
Meanwhile, in the first game, the O’Aces stretched their unbeaten record to five after outclassing Saipan Apparel, 70-66.
No Ol’Aces player broke into double figures in their 4-point win over Saipan Apparel, but it did not prevent the former from keeping their clean slate as they still had a balanced offense. Five Ol’Aces players scored at least 8 points and the team led right from the start to hand Saipan Apparel its second loss in five games.
With their perfect mark, the Ol’Aces are still on top of the 11-team field. Only the Top 8 squads after the round-robin elimination will advance to the playoffs. A single-elimination format will be in place in the first round of the playoffs and once the league is down to four teams, the format will be double elimination.
