Capricciosa claims resto championship

Capricciosa knew all along that they had the best team in the 2004 Inter-Restaurant Basketball League and they finally got to prove that when they defeated Country House, 88-84, to annex the championship early yesterday morning at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

The Italian restaurant bucked a slow start, took advantage of Country House’s “weak” lineup beginning the second half, and then held off a searing rally led by wounded tiger Banjo Basila in the final minutes to win Game 3, their second straight win in the series after dropping the opener.

Country House started the game with guns ablazed. Point guard Edward Vega and Basila went to work early, piling up the points with 10 and 9, respectively, as the team grabbed a 27-20 bulge after the first quarter.

Vega incidentally laced his swashbuckling opening quarter performance by firing two from downtown.

It was still Country House in the early goings of the second until the Mutt and Jeff combination of Gyles Ruluked and Ed Arriola decided to make their presence felt in the ballgame.

Seven unanswered points from the pennant champions sliced the Country House advantage to 4 points, 35-31, and when Arriola hit a jumper at the 3:20 mark of the second, the lead was down to just a deuce, 37-35.

It was back to square one when Capricciosa tied the ballgame at 41-all following a sidestepping move by Reynaldo “Badong” Camacho and a layup by Jojo Molar to finish scoring in the first half.

Capricciosa was a different team after intermission with the aggressiveness back following a lethargic first quarter.

The same can be said about Country House, albeit in a not so flattering sense when they opened the third with a couple of non-regulars on the lineup.

All Capricciosa did was scamper up and down the floor against a diminished Country House team.

Exploiting mismatches on both sides of the floor, Capricciosa was able to score the first 8 points of the period to lead 49-41, forcing the hand of Country House to sue for time.

The huddle seemed to work wonders for Country House as Basila immediately hit a triple, igniting an 11-6 run that closed the gap to 55-52 with 4:34 remaining in the quarter.

But Capricciosa would retaliate with a 10-0 run of its own sparked by MVP of the game Randy Arcanado’s 3-pointer and capped by two free throws from Arriola.

With only a quarter to go, Capricciosa already could taste the championship ahead by 14 points, 68-54.

Country House continued to trail Capricciosa in the fourth, shooting itself on the foot with half a dozen misses from point-blank range.

And then with a little over six minutes left, Basila collided with teammate Ron Lopez in a looseball play and the do-it-all swingman had to leave the game with blood oozing from his noggin.

Amazingly, Country House didn’t just roll over and die during the more than a minute Basila was out of the ballgame.

Down by 13 points with only a little over four minutes left in the season, Basila orchestrated a Lazarus-like comeback for Country House.

Capricciosa also aided in the uprising, celebrating prematurely by pulling their aces out of the game and missing free throws given them by a Country House team on a fouling expedition.

The lead went down to 9 points with 1:28 left following a putback by Basila. Vega then kept Country House’s flickering hopes alive hitting a layup to peg the count at 84-79 with only 34 ticks remaining.

Two free throws from Ruluked and a split from playmaker Jerryfel Mangahis sandwiched a basket by Basila.

Forward Joy Dayrit then redeemed himself from a nightmarish game, powering his way for an old fashioned 3-point play as Country House inched closer 87-84 with time down to 19 seconds.

But it was not to be as Arconado made one of two charities from the 15-foot line to seal the deal and deliver the championship to Capricciosa.

Dozens of Capricciosa faithful stormed the basketball court as the final horn sounded, while players from both sides shook hands and congratulated each other on the sidelines in a display of sportsmanship.

Ruluked had another superb all-around game to lead Capricciosa, pumping in 24 points to go along with his 14 rebounds and 4 assists. Arconado was good for 19 points on top of 12 boards and 3 steals.

Basila once again led Country House’s never-say-die charge, compiling 36 points and hauling down 16 caroms. Vega, Dayrit and Villanueva also wound up in double digits in the loss.

Capricciosa 88 – Ruluked 24, Arconado 19, Camacho 11, Arriola 9, Roman 8, Molar 6, Mangahis 5, Viola 4, Navarro 2.

Country House 84 – Basila 36, Vega 20, Dayrit 13, Villanueva 10, Lopez 2, San Gabriel 2, Bautista 1.

Scoring by quarters: 20-27, 41-41, 68-54, 89-84.

Referees: Ricky Itaas and Arnold Mesa.