Aqua Resort crowned Mobil champions

Aqua Resort Club is the champion of the 4th Annual Mobil Oil Marianas Co-ed Invitational Basketball Tournament

Cheered on by their fans, Aqua Resort jumped to a huge first quarter lead and withstood a late charge by regular season MVP Jhun Estolas to beat host Mobil, 103-93, in the winner-take-all finals held last Sunday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Aqua Resort became the fourth team to win the Mobil championship after Tan Holdings Corp. in 2001, Toyota in 2002, and Pacific Development Inc. last year.

Mobil was already at a disadvantage from the start when women’s MVP Beverly Igitol was nowhere to be found at tip-off.

Without Igitol, Mobil was forced to play five-on-five against a taller and more talented Aqua Resort team and fell behind 16-32 after the opening quarter.

The hoteliers continued to pile up the points, as the Big Three of Dalewin Cortez, Marco Garcia, and Bogs Dayrit were just too much for Mobil and entered the halftime break ahead by 25 whopping points, 60-35.

Even the arrival of Igitol halfway through the third quarter wasn’t enough to put a dent on Aqua Resort’s mammoth lead and Mobil ended the third staring at a 60-81 deficit.

Everything was running smoothly and Aqua Resort appeared headed for the easy win in the early goings of the fourth.

Garcia was stroking it from 3-point range, Cortez was controlling the paint, Rodel Alcantara was providing veteran leadership and Dayrit was slicing and dicing towards the basket.

But as quickly as anyone can utter the word, “rout” Mobil came alive as Estolas put on an offensive show like no other that saw the spitfire guard hit it from everywhere. All of a sudden what was a once an imposing 30-point lead was cut down to a manageable 14 points with still some four minutes to go in the ballgame.

After a timeout by Aqua Resort coach Manny Barcial, former Tanapag Warrior Ziddy Johannes took better care of the spheroid and spotted Cortez, Garcia, and Dayrit for open looks, which in the end proved enough to stave off Estolas’ one-man rally.

Cortez finished with 32 points to lead Aqua Resort, which also got 28 and 22 points from Garcia and Dayrit, respectively.

The 51 points of Estolas paced Mobil, while Junar Guiab and youthful center Ryan Mendoza also fired 15 and 11 points in a losing cause.

Dayrit was adjudged playoffs MVP, while joining Estolas in the Mobil Mythical Five were Cortez and Garcia of Aqua Resort, Kevin Cequena of Toyota, and Tom Alegre of Dai-Ichi Hotel.

In the battle for third, Guada Yumul-Santos exploited the absence of any lady player for Toyota and led Dai-Ichi to a 103-87 victory.

Yumul-Santos paced Dai-Ichi with 22 points, while two-guard Noel Sarmiento and veteran bruiser Alegre pumped in 20 and 15 markers, respectively.

Leading scorer Cequena led Toyota with 27 points but was slowed down by fatigue in the second half. Center Jorge De Guzman chipped in 21 and young playmaker A.J. Domine added 15.

First Game

Dai-Ichi Hotel 103 – Yumul-Santos 22, Sarmiento 20, Alegre 15, Macoto 10, Basa 10, Alipala 8, Ong 6, Lizo 4, De Vera 3, Yape 3, Galag 2.

Toyota 87 – Cequena 27, De Guzman 21, Domine 15, Pantola 11, Aspuria 8, Delos Reyes 3, Cabrera 2.

Scoring by quarters: 26-19, 49-44, 73-65, 103-87.

Second Game

ARC 103 – Cortez 32, Garcia 28, Dayrit 22, De Loyola 6, Johannes 5, San Nicolas 4, Alcantara 4, De Leon 2.

Mobil 93 – Estolas 51, Guiab 15, Mendoza 11, Igitol 5, Galzote 4, Romolor 4, Castillon 3.

Scoring by quarters: 32-16, 60-35, 81-60, 103-93.