Defense, experience key in Sonics’ championship

The key to the Southern Sonics’ championship run in the just concluded 2005 Saipan Rotary Club Youth Basketball League were defense, experience, and hunger for redemption, according to head coach Jesse Tudela.

Learning from their 18-point loss—the only one of the season—to pennant champion and eventual co-finalist Garapan Rollers I in the regular season, the Sonics substituted their 2-3 zone defense to a 1-3-1 and placed forward Rowell Aranda on top of the key in hopes of pressuring the G-I guards.

The ploy worked like a charm as the team prevented the G-Rollers from getting into a rhythm and earned a 113-78 victory Tuesday night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

“We practiced the 1-3-1 the last four days. After the Sixers game, we started practicing that type of defense and they got used to it, so it was the repetition and practice we had,” said Tudela, who disclosed that the stifling defense that proved the key to the championship was the brainchild of manager Abner Venus.

“We have a run and gun team but today we had to play more defense and let the defense win for us,” Tudela added.

Venus explained that he was confident the team was going to win the crown after they pulled together and fought off their huge deficit against the Sixers I in the semifinals.

“I knew that these guys were going to take it,” he said “Since the last game, we were down by 21 some points against Sixers I [and] I was just telling these guys at halftime that ‘hey this is it. If you guys want to go to the championship, we got to win this game!’ So we came back and won.”

Venus went on to add that he introduced the idea of the 1-3-1 defense to Tudela shortly after in hopes of slowing down the scoring threat of G-I leader and regular season most valuable player Pedro Iguel.

“I was just trying to help them out, so when we held that practice on Veterans Day, I came up with the play,” he said. “G-Rollers is very strong with Peter…I had to sacrifice two guys on Peter [Tuesday night] that’s why we kind a killed their [G-Rollers] offense there.”

Both Venus and Tudela agreed that the experience of Aranda, center Jack Lizama, and guard Lester Babauta in the ongoing Budweiser Cup and UFO leagues served as a boost to their team’s chances.

“I give these guys a lot of credit, so do the G-Rollers. Their players have the potential to become good and even great. One of these days they’ll make it, but what really counts is the big guys…Jack Lizama, Rowell Aranda, Lester Babauta with all these experience. Of course these guys are already all pretty much exposed to higher up basketball,” Venus said.

The trio certainly came through with Aranda going berserk for 47 points, Babauta pumping in 30 points, and Lizama contributing 15 points to go along with numerous rebounds and block shots.

Tudela also explained that the earlier loss to the G-Rollers might have been a good thing as it fueled his players to play better in the finale.

“We actually took [the loss] bad but I told the boys to keep their heads up because we’ll meet again in the championship and we did,” he said.