Young Warriors scalp Sparks

Tanapag Young Warriors bucked a slow start to advance to the second round of the 2005 Island-wide Village Youth Basketball League with a 39-23 victory over Matansa Sparks last night at the Tanapag Basketball Court.

The Young Warriors got off on the wrong foot playing nervous in front of their home crowd and were limited to just a bucket in the first eight-minute quarter, which Matansa took 6-2.

But Tanapag outscored Matansa 11-4 in the second quarter and transformed a four-point deficit to a three-point advantage at the break, 13-10.

Gerome Mira, the other half of the Young Warriors’ Dynamic Duo, then took charge in the third quarter.

The bull-strong forward powered his way for 10 of his 15 points as Tanapag forged ahead and opened a 31-17 lead going into the fourth and final quarter.

Regular season scoring champion Ike Aldan also decided to show up in the third and helped his teammate with five points as the rout was on.

Encouraged by his strides in the previous quarter, Aldan went all out in the payoff period, throwing his body around, beating Sparks players for rebounds and lose balls as garbage time slowly ensued.

Tanapag had such a large lead that coach Mario Aguon had the luxury of fielding in a couple of his cage belles and younger players. Tanapag has the most girls in the IVYBL with seven, including Agatha Repeki who chipped in four points.

Even with the Young Warriors’ second and third stringers on the court, Matansa still had trouble finding the bottom of the net and were stuck at 17 points in what seemed like an eternity.

Vince Iglecias finally put an end to his team’s over four-minute drought dating back to the third quarter, as his bucket cut Matansa’s deficit to 23-33.

But that was as close as the Sparks would come to Tanapag’s lead as Aldan, who averaged 15.3 points per game in the regular season, poured in four more points in the final five minutes of the contest to lead the Young Warriors to the win.

Aldan and Mira validated their tag as the highest scoring pair in the 14-and-under league by matching each other’s points with 15 apiece.

Center Greg Camacho led Matansa’s losing effort with 12, while Iglecias wound up with six.

Tanapag Warriors 39– Aldan 15, Mira 15, Repeki 4, Dillay 3, Josh G. 2.

Matansa Sparks 23 – Camacho 12, Iglecias 6, Ogarto 4, Babauta 1.

Scoring by quarters: 2-6, 13-10, 31-17, 39-23.

Referees: Joe Mettao and Jovy Omar.