China Town, Shirley’s bounce back

China Town and Shirley’s Coffee Shop recovered from their debut loss in the Masters division of the 2009 Navy Hill Friendship Basketball League.

Shirley’s, which lost to the CK Legends 95-89, outgunned Gualo Rai, 106-89, Saturday night at the Garapan Basketball Court, while China Town walloped Wild Boys, 89-62, Wednesday night

Bernard Montano sizzled for 29 points for Shirley’s, while three of his teammates also scored in double figures. Bong Malasarte nailed 18 and Nelson Samson and Butch Sublemente chipped in 17 and 10 markers, respectively.

Shirley’s and Gualo Rai engaged in a high-scoring game with the former having more reserves in the payoff canto, outscoring the latter, 42-26. Shirley’s was ahead by only a hair at the end of the third period, 64-63, before its guns went to ablaze in the fourth quarter for a 17-point win.

In Wednesday’s game, China Town, which bowed to Navy Hill, 93-98, during the opening of the Masters caging, recovered from a slow start to tame the Wild Boys.

In its second game, China Town was still groping for form in the first quarter and fell behind by four, 21-25. With only seven players reporting for the game, China Town had difficulty keeping pace with Wild Boys in the first 10 minutes of the game.

But China Town’s fortunes changed in the second quarter, as Bert Laquian, Amor Casabuena, and Sam Fernandez got their games going. The trio combined for 19 of China Town’s 25 points in the second canto, putting the team in the driver’s seat at halftime, 44-34.

Wild Boys went cold in the second period, scoring only nine points, and they never regained form in the last 20 minutes of the match, which was halted twice due to rain.

China Town was pulling away midway in the third quarter when referees stopped the game, as it started to rain. But in less than 10 minutes, the match resumed. Going into the last minute of the third canto, it rained again, but players continued to play, and Boy Garcia canned a buzzer-beating triple to increase China Town’s lead to 17, 65-48.

Casabuena led China Town’s breakaway in the third, making 10 points in that period, only four points less of Wild Boys’ total output

Organizers waited for the rain to stop before resuming the game in the fourth quarter. When both teams returned to the court, it was Fernandez’s turn to run the show, hitting 12 markers in the fourth period and almost outscoring the entire Wild Boys crew, who had only 13 points in that canto.

[B]Wednesday’s Game

China Town 89 [/B]– Casabuena 30, Fernandez 24, Garcia 11, Laquian 10, Alcantara 8, Pacheco 6, Morales 2.
[B] Wild Boys 62[/B] – Abedes 14, Tengco 14, Bautista 9, Banaag 8, Dizon 6, Lagmay 4, Razon 4, Cabading 2.

[B]Scoring by quarters: [/B]21-25, 44-34, 65-48, 89-62.
[B] Saturday’s Game[/B] [B] Shirley’s 106[/B] – Montano 29, Malasarte 18, Samson17, Sublemente 10, Galulu 7, Canedo 6, Besmonte 4, Diyco 3.

[B]Gualo Rai 89[/B] – Ebuen 30, Lansang 24, Cisno 10, Dizon 8, Razon 4, Echavez 2, Bicera 2.

[B]Scoring by quarters:[/B] 30-12, 46-48, 64-63, 106-89.