Natibu completes semis cast

Natibu Warriors’ Travis Malwelbug, left, unloads an uncontested shot in front of the 670 Sonics XVIII’s Ronel Aque, right, and Jerome Diyco during the first quarter of their playoff game in the boys U18 division of the Diaz youth caging last Friday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The Natibu Warriors caught the last bus to the semifinals of the boys U18 division of the 2017 Francisco M. Diaz Memorial Youth League after slipping past the 670 Sonics XVIII in overtime, 48-47, last Friday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Kekuni Kainoa made the go-ahead basket with less than a minute left in the extension, while the 670 Sonics XVIII failed to convert a couple of attempts in the remainder of the game to fall short in its bid to pull off a come-from-behind win.

Natibu was forced to play five more minutes in the battle for the last semis ticket despite taking early control of the match. Henry Aguon dropped 8 of his team-high 13 points in the opening period to lift Natibu to a 20-11 advantage. The Sonics XVIII then picked up its scoring in the second canto with Jerome Malasarte drilling 6 of his 15 points in that quarter and drawing enough support from his teammates to knot the count at the break, 27-all.

At the resumption of the game, Natibu regained the upper hand, 39-36, after getting contribution from five different players and giving up no field goal to Malasarte and holding Roberto Paragados to one basket in the third frame.

In the fourth canto, the opposing teams went back and forth with Aguon’s 4 straight points saving the day for Natibu, as he sent the game in overtime. Malasarte and Ronald Bernardo combined for 8 points for the Sonics XVIII in the fourth quarter to keep their team afloat.

Malasarte also scored the first basket in the extension after splitting his charity, but that was it for Sonics XVIII, as it struggled the rest of the while Kainoa knocked in the most important shot in the game to bring Natibu to the semifinals.

The No. 5 seed Natibu was playing pennant champion and top-ranked Ol’Aces in the first semis game yesterday and was pressured to make headway as the latter opened a 37-14 advantage at halftime. The Ol’Aces limited Natibu to 4 points in the first quarter to establish an early double-digit lead. Rawhoo Sulap then scored 6 points in the second period to surpass Natibu’s low output in the first, however these were not enough to prevent the heavily favored Ol’Aces from keeping their sizeable lead. Coby Santos had 10 points for the Ol’Aces in the first half.

The final results of the Ol’Aces-Natibu tiff along with the second semis game between the 670 Sonics XVI and NMI/DYS Rollers will be reported in Saipan Tribune’s Wednesday edition. Winners of the pair of Final Four matches yesterday will duel for the title tomorrow night.

Natibu Warriors 48 – H. Aguon 13, R. Sulap 9, Kainoa 8, Fejeran 8, Garde 4, Omar 2, Torres 2, Malwelbug 2.

670 Sonics XVIII 47 – Malasarte 15, Paragados 14, Bernardo 6, Chavez 4, Aque 4, Lagmay 2, Diyco 2.

Scoring by quarters: 20-9, 27-27, 39-36, 46-46, 48-47.