‘Embarrassing Game 1 loss was motivation’

After being blown out by Ol’Aces 93-129 in the first game, Advance X-Terminators coach Marvin Deocares said his boys were more embarrassed than anything else and wanted to even things up as quickly as possible.

Good thing for the pennant champions of the Inaugural FMI Inter-Color Basketball League, the wait did not take that long as they hit the floor with their Game 1 tormentors Sunday and let off all three days worth of pent-up frustration on Ol’Aces.

And it showed early as the Bug Busters led by twin numbers only to give up the lead come the second quarter.

Modest leads in the second and third stanzas grew to another a double-digit advantage in the fourth soon after center Abong Camacho was ousted on account of five personal fouls.

But Ol’Aces were not done yet, as scoring machine Fred Pelisamen almost pulled off an amazing comeback with his marksmanship from rainbow country. In the end, however, turnovers killed Ol’Aces in the final minutes that led to Advance X-Terminators’ 123-114 win.

“Teamwork was the key in our Game 2 win. My boys just didn’t lose hope despite being blown out in Game 1. Our embarrassing loss in Game 1 actually became our motivation heading into Game 2,” Deocares said in Filipino during an interview with the Saipan Tribune immediately after the game.

The dimunative mentor said their Game 1 loss could actually blamed on a number of factors, foremost of which was the absence of big men Edsel Mendoza and Gyles Ruluked.

“We were the pennant champions but we still got blown out in the first game. We were not complete in that game as Gyles and Edsel did not play in Game 1,” he said.

Asked what strategy he would employ in the do-or-die Game 3, knowing that Camacho will not see action in that game after the 6’3” behemoth headed off to Guam yesterday to prepare for his deployment in Iraq, Deocares said he will approach Game 3 as if Ol’Aces will be playing with a full deck.

“We know Abong will not play in Game 3, but even if the entire Ol’Aces starting five will not play, my team will still come in and show the same intensity we showed in winning Game 2.”

Ol’Aces coach Sonny Flores, for his part, said Camacho’s departure leaves pretty big shoes to fill in his roster, but feels his team still has a great chance in winning Game 3 and the championship.

“We won a couple of games without him. We lost our inside man but we still have to try to win without him. I plan to start Jack Lizama in place of Abong Camacho. Jack can step up. We just have to come in and try to avoid a lot of turnovers. That’s the one that killed us in Game 2 and plus we were missing our shots,” he said.