PTI routs DCCA to gain semis slot

PTI advanced to the winners bracket semifinals of the Inaugural PTI Inter-Government/Business Basketball League after trouncing the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, 97-78, Monday night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

PTI will face Northern Marianas College in the second game tonight for the first finals ticket. DCCA will collide with the Department of Corrections in the first match with the loser kissing its finals bid goodbye.

Kelvin Fitial topscored for PTI with 25 points, but it was Ryan Sanciangco and Edsel Mendoza who started things out for the host team.

Sanciangco, who missed most of PTI’s games in the regular season before making himself available for the important matches in the playoffs, scored his team’s first three points and went on to finish with nine markers in the first canto.

Mendoza added six, as he and Sanciangco put PTI on top at the end of the first quarter, 26-17.

Taj Van Buren, Joey Dela Cruz, and Peter Camacho tried to keep PTI within striking distance in the second period and succeeded when they cut the lead to six at halftime, 37-44.

But that was the closest that DCCA could get, as it was held to 11 third quarter points, while PTI started pulling away, getting contributions from every player it fielded in the game.

At the end of the third canto, PTI was way ahead, 73-48, as DCCA was limited two three triples and a pair of free throws at the beginning of the second half.

DCCA picked up its scoring in the fourth period, leaning on its 3-point shooting. But PTI’s 25-point lead at the start of the fourth canto was too much for DCCA which ran out of time catching up.

Even Connie Camacho’s three treys in the fourth quarter could not save DCCA from dropping to the losers’ bracket, putting the team in a must-win situation against Corrections.

Van Buren, who usually has a field day from downtown, was held to 10 points, four in the fourth canto, as he was pushed out of his comfort zone. He made only one triple against PTI, which had a couple of tall guys challenging Van Buren’s long shot attempts.

Besides Fitial, three other PTI players scored in double figures with Sanciangco adding 21 and Elmer Esdrelon and Mendoza chipping in 16 and 12 markers, respectively.

Joey Dela Cruz paced DCCA with 17 points, while Peter Camacho had 14, but scored only a triple in the fourth quarter.

Elias Rangamar, the hero in DCCA’s 83-82 win over Bank of Guam, also finished with 14 points, but hardly made attempts to the basket in the second and third quarters.

The winner of the DCCA-Corrections tiff will face the victor of the Autonomous-Tinian tiff, which was played last night, but results were unavailable at press time.

Winners of the Tinian-Autonomous and DCCA-Corrections games will then meet the loser of NMC-PTI match for the last finals berth.

NMC has a slight edge over PTI in their semis match tonight, as the former defeated the latter in the regular season, 89-82.

PTI 97 – Fitial 25, Sanciangco 21, Esdrelon 16, Mendoza 12, Yamada 8, Fernandez 5, De Leon 2, Watanabe 2, Berline 2.

DCCA 78 – Dela Cruz 17, P. Camacho 14, Rangamar 14, Van Buren 10, C. Camacho 9, Benavente 8, Rogolofoi 3.

Scoring by quarters: 26-17, 44-37, 73-48, 97-78.

Referees: Arnold Mesa and Gabriel White.