Joeten hands Best Deal/RNV 3rd straight loss

Joeten Enterprises’ Ivan Devero challenges the defense of Best Deal/RNV Construction’s Jojit Jumaquio during the second quarter of their game in the JEM/Mobil caging last Tuesday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Joeten Enterprises survived Best Deal/RNV Construction’s strong start to earn an 85-77 win in their game in the 2017 JEM Company Ltd./Mobil Customer Appreciation Basketball League last Tuesday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium.

The win was the first for Joeten, which dropped its debut to Commonwealth Utilities Corp. last week, while the loss was third in as many matches for Best Deal/RNV.

Best Deal/RNV boosted its chances to break into the win column after drawing an explosive start from Ronald Rueda. He had the team’s first 6 points and scored 13 straight points midway in the opening canto, turning a 14-16 deficit to a 29-22 advantage at the end of that period.

Best Deal/RNV went on to lead by as much as 11, 33-22, as Rueda scored the team’s first 4 points in the opening minute of the second quarter. A visibly tired Ruede then asked for a breather and that’s when Best Deal/RNV started to lose the driver’s seat, while Ivan Devero took charge for Joeten. The former Marianas High School standout scored 12 points in the second frame, including Joeten’s last 10 markers in the first half to put his team on top at the break, 44-42.

Devero continued to lift Joeten in the third quarter and got enough help from his teammates to keep their team in front, 61-58. Best Deal/RNV failed to reclaim the upper hand in the third canto despite the return of Rueda, who was held to one field goal and 4 points in the penultimate quarter.

Rueda tried to rally back Best Deal/RNV, but this time failed to hit basket in streaks, while Devero continued to do the damage for Joeten. Rueda and Devero top-scored for their respective teams with the former tallying 39 and the latter posting 36.

Meanwhile, in the first game, McDonald’s defeated Docomo, 63-56.

McDonald’s also recovered from a slow start to notch its second win in as many games and tie TanHoldings and CUC for the lead in Pool A. Docomo fell to 1-1 mark.

McDonald’s was held to five field goals in the first quarter to trail, 10-13, and still could not get gain cushion in the second, which ended in a deadlock, 29-29.

McDonald’s then got the needed break in the third when it held Docomo to 4 points, while registering 11 to take the lead, entering the final canto. McDonald’s went on to save its best for last, scoring 23 points to finish off Docomo.

Michael Achas paced McDonald’s with his 16 points, while Robert Sanciangco had 13 for Docomo.

First Game
McDonald’s 63 – Mi. Achas 14, Macaranas 10, J. Achas 10, Gaspar 6, Gapor 6, Mc. Achas 5, C. Achas 2.

Docomo 56 – Sanciangco 13, Hayes 11, Manibusan 8, Griffin 6, Sablan 5, Sanchez 5, Mendiola 4, White 3, Kaipat 1.

Scoring by quarters: 11-13, 29-29, 40-33, 63-56.

Second Game
Joeten 85 – Devero 36, Fitial 10, Lauron 9, Rogolifoi 8, Tobias 5, Chariton 4, Sambile 4, Bautista 3.

Best Deal/RNV 77 – R. Rueda 39, Cabalquinto 10, Baul 6, Barrios 5, Corong 5, Jumaquio 2, Odicta 2, J. Rueda 2.

Scoring by quarters: 22-29, 44-42, 61-58, 85-77.