Blue Haus notches first win

Blue Haus entered the win column in the U20 division of the 2015 United Filipino Organization Basketball League following an 88-65 rout of Gilas last Saturday night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Blue Haus’ Ignacio Borja goes for an alley-oop shot off a pass from Dixon Kwon during the fourth quarter of their U20 division game against Gilas in the UFO caging last Saturday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Blue Haus dictated the tempo of the game early to cruise to victory and snap its two-game losing skid. Gilas remained winless in three matches with one game left (against Armatech on April 25) in its regular season campaign.

A 27-9 scoring run in the first quarter paved the way for Blue Haus’ demolition of Gilas. John Ray Grilles anchored Blue Haus’ hot start, as he sizzled for three triples in the opening canto. He kicked off Blue Haus’ scoring outburst with 5 straight points and capped the first period with 10 consecutive points and back-to-back 3-pointers to finish the quarter with 17 markers or nearly double than Gilas’ total output. Gilas hit only four baskets in the first frame and it had no player scoring more than one basket in the opening 10 minutes of play.

In the second canto, Grilles took a long breather, but Blue Haus had no problem keeping its big lead, as Dixon Kwon and Ignacio Borja stepped in to continue what the former started. Borja and Kwon made all but one of Blue Haus’ eight field goals in the second half and combined for 17 of the team’s 19 markers to stretch their lead to 26 at the break, 46-20. Aaron Pamintuan logged the other 2 points for Blue Haus.

Gilas finally broke into double figures in the second half with its 11 points, however only two players nailed more than one field goal for the Jay Diyco-led squad, allowing Keoni Chariton’s wards to pull away further.

Behind by a big margin, Gilas tried to mount a comeback and had little success, as it outgunned Blue Haus for the first time in the third period, 31-21. J.P. Rivera canned three triples at the start of the second half and drew some help from Ryan Esmundo and Chico Bondoc to bring the deficit down to 16, 51-67, entering the final canto.

Gilas then moved within 12 early in the fourth before Kwon and Ignacio alternately hit baskets to put the game away for good for Blue Haus.

Borja and Grilles top-scored for Blue Haus with 24 points each, while Kwon contributed 20. Bondoc led Gilas with his 16 markers.

Blue Haus is in fourth place in the five-team field behind the unbeaten Sonics (3-0), Armatech (1-0), and the Ol’Aces (1-1). The Sonics will have their last regular season game in the round-robin elimination this Wednesday when they take on Armatech at 8pm. Also set for Wednesday is the LBT Appraisal-Old’Aces tiff in the Masters division at 6:30pm.

Blue Haus 88 – Grilles 24, Borja 24, Kwon 20, Pamintuan 8, Feria 4, Manalili 4, Benavente 2.

Gilas 65 – Bondoc 16, Esmundo 14, Rivera 14, Espinosa 11, Diyco 6, Igrobay 3, Rangamar 2, Raquero 2.

Scoring by quarters: 27-9, 46-20, 67-51, 88-65.