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BBB takes fourth playoff seat
Batang Bear Brand’s Hal Spott, left, wrestles the ball with a Tropang Ridhors player during an earlier game in the Ali’i Blue Haus caging at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium. Spott scored 21 points in their 74-63 win over Team Sawi last Sunday. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Batang Bear Brand earned a playoff berth in the 2nd Ali’i Blue Haus Invitational Basketball League after outclassing Team Sawi, 74-63, last Sunday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium.
BBB’s game improved as the game progressed to post the 11-point win over Team Sawi and join Silencer (8-2), Black Mamba (7-2), and Tropang Ridhors (7-4) to the eight-team playoff round. BBB now has a 6-2 record, while Team Sawi fell to a 4-4 card and must win at least two of its last three games to make the cut for the next phase of the competition.
Team Sawi is at the No. 8 spot, ahead of Empe Light (3-6), Gold Ballers (2-6), Vendetta (1-6), and Green Archers (0-9) and behind Green Minded (5-4), Spigen (5-4), and White Haus (5-3).
Hal Spott, Elmer Esdrelon, and Ronnel Gamboa combined for more than half of BBB’s total output to hand their squad its sixth win. Spott used his heft and height to cherry pick in the paint and score a team-high 21 points. Esdrelon and Gamboa contributed 18 and 15, respectively, to offset the 26 markers of Team Sawi’s Errol Peredo.
Peredo, Jerome Director, and J.R. Concepcion kept Team Sawi in the game in the first quarter, which ended in a deadlock, 16-all. Spott and Esdrelon totaled for 13 points in the opening canto.
Spott then found a new partner in Gamboa in the second quarter, as the latter tallied 8 points, just one more than the former’s output to put BBB on top, 40-34.
BBB never relinquished the lead from thereon, with Spott, Esdrelon, and Gamboa working together in the second half to counter Peredo’s multiple baskets for Team Sawi.
BBB 74— Spott 21, Esdrelon 18, Gamboa 15, Che 6, Ariar 4, Devero 3, Achas 2.
Team Sawi 63 — Peredo 26, Talania 14, Seralde 10, Concepcion 7, Galulu 4, Buenabajo 2.
Scoring by quarters: 16-16, 40-34, 57-53, 74-63.
