Cage teams near Promised Land

Four squads survived their respective semis assignments to move a win away from clinching the championship trophies in the UFO Inter-Organization Masters and Youth Basketball Docomo Pacific Cup 2011.

In the masters division, Cabalen/Wings Travel routed MAFEA/RNV in the semis, 87-63, to book the first finals berth. The second finals seat went to MDX/Armatech, which slipped past VisMinda/PIAHI, 76-68, in the other semis pairing.

In the youth division, the Jets were the last ones to advance to the finals after edging MDX/Armatech in the semis last Saturday, 89-85, while Filcag/Rollers had earlier notched the first finals slot after ousting Samahang Ilokano at Pangasinense, 85-82.

Still in the UFO caging, Namfrel/Proa swept the regular season of the open division and took the No. 1 seeding in the playoffs after beating Cabalen/Noni last week, 82-79. Cabalen dropped to No. 3 and was scheduled to play Bayani/Mobil in the first round of the playoffs. Other pairings are UPAA/Docomo Hoopaholics against Cavite/Andok’s and MAFEA-Ali’i Konflikt versus VisMinda/Satbahi. Winners of the first three playoff matches will join Proa in the semifinals.

Still in basketball, Cell Pro notched the second finals berth in the Blue Haus caging after downing Sherwin Williams in the playoffs, 75-71. Cell Pro was scheduled to collide against Micronesian Brokers, Inc. in the one-game finals last night.

In other results last week, the Fielders 2 posted back-to-back wins in the Saipan Major League Baseball Association’s Youth Summer/Fall League; Raymond Angeles and Elena Soll topped the Saipan Bowling Association/Budweiser September roll-offs, while M.J. Aldan ruled the Fiji Water youth event; Konflikt prevailed in a 3-on-3 tournament; and Mieko Carey, Erico Castro, and Nap Dizon triumphed in the Bike For Life.

On-going leagues and tournaments on Saipan also continued with the 2011 Shirley’s Badminton Classic completing its elimination round games and the Rotary youth caging continuing its regular season matches at the TSL Sports Complex.

Over at the Oleai Sports Complex Field, Northern Mariana Islands Football Association opened its youth fall league with sister teams MP United 1 and 2 routing separate foes and Tan Holdings winning over Paire in the boys U15. The lone boys U18 match was also played at the Oleai pitch with Paire stunning defending champion MP United, 3-2. In the girls U15 played at the San Antonio Elementary School Field, MP United and Matansa downed Paire and Tan Holdings, respectively.