Lob City outlasts Sun Palace in OT

Lob City’s Madi Alegre dribbles closer to the basket and is defended by Sun Palace’s Chevy Kate Alipio during the extension period of their title game in the women’s division of the Tan Holdings holiday caging last Saturday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Lob City took the women’s division crown in the 2015 Tan Holdings Christmas Basketball Tournament following a 66-62 overtime victory against Sun Palace in their winner-take-all finale last Saturday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium.

Jeraldine Castillo knocked in a buzzer-beating long jumper to force the overtime and then teamed up with sister Jeralyn, Madi Alegre, and Kyla Ito in the extension period to complete Lob City’s come-from-behind win against the then unbeaten Sun Palace.

Jeraldine unloaded the jumper from the left key and after she banked in the shot in front of Gabrielle Race and Irish Pagarao, the sizeable crowd went into pandemonium thinking the basket was a triple. To the dismay of majority of the spectators and the delight of Sun Palace, referee Ferdie Tobias ruled out the basket as a long 2-pointer saying Jeraldine’s right foot stepped on the line when she pulled the trigger.

With the tough break, Lob City had to play five more minutes to steal the championship from Sun Palace, which came to the finals unbeaten in six games, including a 5-0 sweep in the elimination.

A 7-0 scoring run in the first three minutes and change of the overtime boosted Lob City’s chance to secure the title. Jeraldine made the first 2 points in the extension, while Jeralyn had an and-1 play, and Alegre canned a point-blanked shot to lift Lob City a 60-53 advantage, 2:47 left in the game.

Lob City kept the safe distance as Sun Palace fired blanks before an inside basket from Race ended the latter’s silence and cut the former’s deficit to 5, 55-60, 1:29 remaining on the clock. Sun Palace could have move further had it not went 0-for-4 from the foul line—Ira Palero and Chevy Kate Alipio missed two free throws each— in its next two possessions.

Lob City, on the other hand, got back-to-back jumpers from Kyla Ito and drew one free two apiece from the Castillo siblings to offset the field goal of Palero and the last 5 points off Sun Palace, courtesy of Alipio.

Jeralyn top-scored for Lob City with her 19 points, while Jeradine chipped in 17. Alegre also finished in double figures, adding 13, while Mikky Kautz contributed 8 and collared those offensive rebounds that gave Lob City several second-chance points in the fourth quarter where the eventual champion overhauled a 12-point deficit.

Sun Palace had its biggest lead, 44-32, after an Alipio putback just two minutes into the fourth canto. A 15-3 run capped by Jeraldine’s layup tied the match, 47-all, 3:10 to go in regulation. It was a nip-and-tuck game from thereon with Sun Palace holding the lead for the last time at the 55-51 tally after Pagarao canned a pair of free throws and only 7.1 seconds were left in the fourth canto.

Lob City then sued for time and when the game resumed, Ito did the inbound play from the right sideline where players from both teams hung around. Ito then managed to pass the ball to Jeralyn, who swung the leather from the top key to the left sideline to her sister. Jeralyn was well covered and decided to dribble to her right before throwing up a prayer and banking in the biggest shot in the match.

Meanwhile, the boys U19 finale was also played last weekend and results of the Ol’Aces-Sonics showdown will be reported in Saipan Tribune’s Tuesday issue.

Lob City 66—Jeralyn Castillo 10, Jeraldine Castillo 18, Alegre 13, Kautz 8, Ito 6, Alferos 2.

Sun Palace 62—Palero 17, Pagarao 13, Pablo 10, Alipio 9, Phan 4, Race 4, Abantao 3, Alcantara 2.

Scoring by quarters: 14-12, 25-18, 38-30, 53-53, 66-62 (OT).