Mobil, Wushin prevail

Mobil and Wushin recorded contrasting victories in the 3rd Annual Shirley’s Coffee Shop Invitational Basketball League last Saturday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium.

In the battle of unbeaten teams in the first game, Mobil routed DFS Galleria, 95-78, while Wushin eked out a 90-89 triumph over Grillin’ in the second match of the night.

Edwin Santos canned the winning basket for Wushin in the closing seconds of the game. Down by a hair, 88-89, with less than 20 seconds remaining on the clock, Jun Tabora took charged in Wushin’s offensive set, but missed on his attempt. Fortunately for Wushin, Edwin Santos was at the paint, collared the offensive rebound, and made a putback to put Wushin on top, 90-89, with .08 of a second left in the game. With a limited time, Grillin’ failed to make a decent shot and lost its third straight match.

Wushin improved to a 2-2 record for a share of fourth place with Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan.

Tabora top-scored in Wushin’s second win with his 34 points. He made 12 of them in the first period where Wushin recovered from a 4-15 deficit. Tabora added 10 more in the second period to match the output of Grillin’s Leo Galarse and end halftime in a deadlock, 45-all.

In the third period, Tabora was held to a field goal, while Galarse and Sonny Lerio combined for 15 markers to give Grillin’ a 66-60 lead. However, Tabora went on to redeem himself in the fourth, firing 10 markers and he got enough support from Santos, who also canned crucial free throws in the homestretch, going 3-for-3.

In the curtain raiser, Mobil improved to a 4-0 record and got the solo lead in the 10-team standings, while DFS fell to third place with its 3-2 slate. Mobil and defending champion Pacific Islands Club/NVM (3-0) are the only undefeated squads this season.

DFS failed to keep its perfect record intact after missing key players Dan Barcinas and Pete Iguel. Mobil capitalized on the absence of DFS gunners and drew another strong games from Jun Estolas and Marvin Rabauliman to extend its winning run to four.

Estolas sizzled for 22 points, making three early 3-pointers in the first period that ended with Mobil on top by eight, 32-24. Rabauliman and Gil Gapor added six in the opening quarter.

Without Iguel and Barcinas, DFS leaned heavily on Jack Lizama, who knocked in 11 markers in the second canto, but still failed to lift his team, as Mobil surged ahead at the break, 57-41. Mobil pulled away in the second period, as it had eight players making it to the scoreboard against DFS’ only three.

Mobil protected its lead in the second half en route to a 17-point winning margin, while DFS clearly missed the contributions of Iguel and Barcinas, as its offensive options were limited to Lizama and Quincy Johnson.

Lizama finished with a game-high 29 points on the losing end, while Johnson chipped in 14. Only three players broke into double figures for DFS with Allan Echavez adding 10, drilling six of them in the fourth period when the game was already in the bag for Mobil.

Besides Estolas, four other Mobil players scored in double digits with Rabauliman firing 21, Larry Sharry and Gapor tallying 12 each, and Bart Demapan posting 10.

Mobil 95[/B] – Estolas 22, Rabauliman 21, Shary 12, Gapor 12, Demapan 10, Jose 6, Bautista 4, Wenceslao 3, Gamboa 2, Tavares 2.

Wushin 90[/B] – Tabora 34, Santos 22, Tibayan 13, Tobias 11, Villasan 7, Patawaran 3.
[B] Grillin’ 89[/B] – Galarse 31, Pagarao 22, Lerio 16, Ritual 9, Herrera 5, Rotap 4, J. Loste 2.
[B] Scoring by quarters:[/B] 21-20, 45-45, 60-66, 90-89.