Blue Haus, MJD/GPPC win in San Antonio caging

Blue Haus and MJD/GPPC banked on their strong fourth-quarter showing to down their respective foes in the 2015 San Antonio Community Action Network Basketball League last Tuesday night at the San Antonio court.

Blue Haus’ Elmer Esdrelon goes up for a layup against GMI Market’s Mike Babauta, right, while the latter’s teammates look on during the third quarter of their Open division game in the San Antonio caging last Tuesday at the San Antonio court.
(Roselyn B. Monroyo)

MJD/GPPC prevailed in the battle of unbeaten teams in the masters division after slipping past Armatech, 73-66, while Blue Haus topped GMI Market, 76-64, in the open category.

Blue Haus outgunned GMI Market, 15-4, in the first six minutes of the fourth period to turn a 53-46 cushion to a 68-58 spread and kept the double-digit winning margin in the end.

Angelo Fernando drilled 8 points in the fourth-quarter surge, while Manolo Manalo and Marlon De Dios chipped in 5 and 3, respectively, to set up the breakaway for Blue Haus.

GMI Market, on the other hand, was held to one field goal off Joe Sablan’s triple that came with three minutes already gone by in the final canto. Mike Cabanas scored the other point a few seconds later and GMI Market continued to struggle offensively in the next two minutes before bagging garbage baskets in the homestretch with Blue Haus already assured of its second win in three games.

Fernando paced Blue Haus with his 19 points, while Elmer Esdrelon added 13, 6 of them came in the third quarter where his team gained some leverage after the match was tied for the last time at 45-all. Esdrelon knocked in four free throws and a field goal in the final two minutes of the third frame, while Junar Guiab had two more charities to hand Blue Haus a 7-point cushion entering the fourth. GMI Market got only 1 point in the windup off Jesse Doseo’s split.

Meanwhile, in the masters division, MJD/GPPC improved to a 3-0 record after eking out a come-from-behind win against Armatech.

MJD/GPPC fell behind by as much as 14 points in the first half, 38-24, and still trailed at the end of the third, 49-52, when it went all out in the fourth to grab the victory from Armatech.

Randy Mungcal led MJD/GPPC’s fight-back in the final canto, scoring 10 of his 14 points in the fourth, including the team’s last 4 markers. Jorge De Guzman and Jun Tabora contributed 4 markers apiece, while Jojo Parcotilo, Alex Ocampo, and Jun Alipio chipped in 2 each, as MJD/GPPC nearly doubled-up Armatech in the payoff canto, 24-14.

Alipio top-scored for MJD/GPPC with his 17 points and helped the squad bring down Armatech’s double-digit lead to 3 at the end of the third frame after firing 9 straight points and a total of 13 in the penultimate quarter.

Bruce Berline had 21 for Armatech, which dropped to a 2-1 record. The Armatech big man and Dindo Pablo were the only players who scored for their team in the fourth canto.

Open
Blue Haus 76 – Fernando 19, Esdrelon 13, De Dios 13, Manalo 8, Demapan 6, Berline 4, Talania 4, Moises 4, Guiab 3, Capalad 2.

GMI Market 64 – Je. Santos 13, Doseo 10, Jon Santos 10, Sablan 9, Cabanas 7, Petersburg 6, Babauta 5, Palino 3, Deleon Guerrero 1.

Scoring by quarters: 14-9, 29-36, 53-46, 76-64.

Masters
MJD/GPPC 73 – Alipio 17, Mungcal 14, Tabora 11, De Guzman 7, Vargas 6, Parcotilo 4, Z. Deocares 4, Sampang 2, Rosario 2.

Armatech 66 – Berline 21, Abuy 13, Pablo 8, Moreno 7, Malasarte 4, Canedo 4, Duenas 4, Gabaldon 3.

Scoring by quarters: 14-17, 26-38, 49-52, 73-66.