Twin wins for Ol’Aces; Tanapag routs Agape

The Ol’Aces Elite’s E.J. Abejo, right, tries to dribble past 670 Sonics/PHI’s Christian Bravo during the second half of their boys U15 division game in the 2017 Francisco M. Diaz Memorial Youth League last Monday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The Ol’Aces triumphed in their debut games in two divisions, while Tanapag also got off to a good start in the 2017 Francisco M. Diaz Memorial Youth League.

The Ol’Aces Elite played in the opening game of the Diaz caging and edged 670 Sonics/PHI in the boys U15 division last Monday night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium, while the Ol’Aces crushed the Northside Wolves in the boys U18 match, 83-25.

A 46-13 scoring in the first half allowed the Ol’Aces to set up the lopsided win, as the former’s much deeper bench and better shooting proved to be too much to handle for Northside. Coby Santos scored 7 straight points midway in the first half for the Ol’Aces and drew a lot of help from his teammates to build a 33-point spread at the break.

Northside never made headway at the resumption of the match, while the Ol’Aces continued to distribute the wealth to complete their domination in the first game in the boys U18 division.

Santos finished with 10 points for the Ol’Aces, while five of his teammates added at least 6 points apiece.

In the curtain-raiser, Duncan Laxa hit baskets in streak in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, while Kent Ogasawara made clutch shots in the homestretch to lift the Ol’Aces Elite to the 3-point win.

Laxa fired 9 straight points for the Ol’Aces Elite, giving his team a 21-14 advantage midway in the second half. 670 Sonics/PHI then managed to recover and tied the match at 21-all, behind Kristian Itaas and Paulo Cadag, however they fell short in the end, as they made only two field goals in the closing minutes of the match.

The Ol’Aces Elite, on the other hand, drilled five field goals, with two of its last three coming from Ogasawara to save the win.

Meanwhile, Tanapag whip-ped Agape Christian School, 57-32, in the boys U15 division game last Tuesday.

Francisco Kumuich and Joel Norita teamed up in powering Tanapag to the easy win after logging 18 and 14 points. Aven Evangelista and Jacob Malonzo combined for 15 to provide help in the team’s debut victory.

Tanapag established an early double-digit advantage as it went up by 11 by halftime, 28-17, and padded its lead in the second half to down Agape.

BOYS U15
Monday’s Game
Ol’Aces Elite 33 — Laxa 10, Abejo 8, Ogasawara 4, Soriano 3, Omelau 3, Elchico 2, Menchor 2, Ichihara 1.
670 Sonics/PHI 30 — Itaas 17, Contreras 4, Cagad 4, Bravo 3, Sablan 2.
Scoring by halves: 12-12, 33-30.

Tuesday’s Game
Tanapag 57 — Kumuich 18, Norita 14, Evangelista 8, Malonzo 7, Atalig 4, Salilin 2.
Agape 32 — Yang 10, T. Xu 6, Bao 4, Peter 4, S. Xu 4, Cai 4.
Scoring by halves: 28-17, 57-32.

BOYS U18
Ol’Aces 82 — Santos 15, Onopwy 9, Bondoc 9, Castro 8, Pangelinan 6, Blake 6, Aiferson 5, Castillo 3, Sablan 2.
Northside Wolves 35 — Soriano 10, Angelo 7, Zhang 6, De Jose 6, Ferrer 2, Alonzo 2.
Scoring by halves: 46-13, 82-35.