G-Rollers forge finals rematch

There will be a rematch of last year’s Island-wide Village Youth Basketball League after Garapan Rollers demolished Tanapag Young Warriors, 68-17, in the semis of the 14-and-under cagefest last night at the Garapan Basketball Court.

After a low-scoring first quarter, which saw the G-Rollers lead 8-2, coaches Joe Diaz and Jose Tumaquip unleashed Garapan’s dreaded full-court pressure defense on the hapless Young Warriors.

Tanapag didn’t know what hit them, as coach Mario Aguon’s raw and inexperienced cast fell into a maze of turnovers that were quickly translated into easy fastbreak points by Garapan players.

Oftentimes the Young Warriors couldn’t even bring the ball down to halfcourt as their balhhandlers usually were swarmed by three or four G-Rollers.

In a couple of occasions, Garapan even forced Tanapag to miscues on the inbound pass that led to uncontested baskets under their goal two to three second into the shotclock.

Because of their defensive clampdown and offensive juggernaut, Garapan blew the game wide open and led 32-6 at the break.

Tanapag saw some light at the end of the tunnel at the start of the third as center Gerome Mira scored the first four points of the half to cut their deficit to 10-32.

But the glimmer of hope turned out to be just a beam of the incoming G-Rollers Express, as Garapan put more coal in their engine and outscored Tanapag 30-4 the rest of the quarter to take a whopping 62-14 lead going into payoff period.

It was officially garbage time as the fourth and final quarter ensued, but even with their shock troopers, Garapan still dominated the final eight-minute canto as seven players made their marks on the scorebook .

Nate Mateo led five G-Rollers scoring six points or more with 12 markers, while Champ Untalan and Jericho Cruz added 10 points apiece.

Regular season scoring champ Ike Aldan was limited to only seven points but still led Tanapag. His equally productive frontcourt mate Mira was also muted by G-Rollers’ sparkling defensive stand and struggled with just six points.

The win allowed G-Rollers to join archrival and last year’s runner-up San Antonio 69ers in the winner-take-all championship set for Thursday. Semifinal losers San Antonio Sixers I and Young Warriors will play for third place tonight.

Garapan Rollers 68 – N Mateo 12, Untalan 10, Cruz 10, Teregeyo 8, Moses 6, Castro 4, Webb 4, Tellei 4, Jones 4, Basila 2, Lebria 2, Chan 2.

Tanapag Young Warriors 17 – Aldan 7, Mira 6, Repeki 2, Dillay 2.

Scoring by quarters: 8-2, 32-6, 62-14, 68-17.

Referees: Joe Mettao and Jonathan Tenorio.