Pasion De Amor nips Purple Rain

Pasion De Amor nosed out Purple Rain, 61-60, in the curtain-raiser in the 2015 Blue Haus/IT&E Inter-Color Basketball League yesterday at the Navy Hill court.

Elmer Esdrelon, seen here trying to dribble away from two Kidlat defenders, hit the game-winning trey in Pasion De Amor’s 61-60 victory against Purple Rain during their game in the Blue Haus-IT&E caging yesterday at the Navy Hill court. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Elmer Esdrelon hit the dagger, drilling a triple from the right key off a pass from Bart Demapan. The game-winning shot came off a Pasion De Amor timeout with 12 seconds left in the match. Esdrelon, according to league officials, received the inbound and passed the ball to Demapan, who gave the leather back to the former. At this juncture, Purple Rain committed a defensive lapse, leaving Esdrelon momentarily open for the triple, which Purple Rain’s Bruce Berline tried to challenge, but he was a few steps away and his long arms failed to distract the Pasion De Amor team captain from making the shot.

After Esdrelon’s triple, Purple Rain was left with six seconds to orchestrate a play, which it must do quickly as it had no timeout left to talk things over. Purple Rain eventually caved in to time pressure, as it could not pull up for a shot as time expired.

It was a sorry loss for Purple Rain, as it threatened Pasion De Amor with an upset after leading by double figures in the first half. Purple Rain had the upper hand for the last time at 60-58 after Paul Bautista canned a crucial triple before Esdrelon countered with his own shot from beyond the arc to save the day for Pasion De Amor.

With the win, Pasion De Amor improved its record to 4-2 and notched back-to-back victories. Purple Rain dropped to a 2-3 slate.

Demapan top-scored for Pasion De Amor with his 25 points, while Esdrelon finished with 22. The 1-2 punch brought Purple Rain back into the game after their team face a 28-36 halftime deficit. They alternately scored successive baskets to prevent Purple Rain from pulling away in the first half and continued to catch up in the final 20 minutes of play before completing the come-from-behind win off Esdrelon’s 3-pointer.

Bautista had 25 markers to lead Purple Rain’s losing cause.

Meanwhile, Hard Kulangot (3-2) and Kidlat (1-4) played in the second game last night and results of that match will be reported in Saipan Tribune’s Tuesday issue. Other games over the weekend—Eh Di Wow vs Hard Kulangot last Friday and last Saturday’s Purple Rain vs Red Rice and Oh My J vs Wag Kang Pabebe—were rained out and will be reset later.

The league will play one of the rescheduled matches tonight and teams will be informed of the pairing this morning.

Pasion De Amor 61 – Demapan 25, Esdrelon 22, N. Arreza 6, Pestillos 6, Conti 2.

Purple Rain 60 – Bautista 25, Reyes 13, Berline 9, Leomo 4, Malasarte 4.

Scoring by halves: 28-36, 61-60.