SBL, Gen Cup playoffs to resume

Nahum’s Chris Sacdalan pulls up for a jumper against two Joel defenders during the playoff game in the youth division of the Gen Cup last Tuesday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. Gen Cup will start its playoff games in the adult division tonight. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Baseball and basketball games that were called off last week due to heavy rains will resume today.

In the playoff round of the 2016 Saipan Baseball League, Game 2 of the best-of-five semis series between the Chalan Kanoa Bears and Titanium will be played tonight, weather permitting, at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield.

The pennant champions Bears lead the short series after escaping with a 10-9 victory last Monday and will try to boot out Titanium early with another win today. Titanium, which caught the last bus to the semifinal round after beating the Falcons in a playoff game two weeks ago, 3-2, will attempt to hand the Bears their first loss of the season to remain in contention. The Bears had a 14-game sweep in the regular season before outlasting Titanium in their semis series opener.

The other Final Four pairing—defending champions and the second-seeded GSM Brewers and the BSI Aces—will have its Game 2 tomorrow. The Best Sunshine International-backed Aces pulled off an upset against the Brewers in Game 1 of their semis showdown after posting a 4-2 victory last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, over at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium, the 5th Genesis Cup Christian Churches Inter-Color Basketball League will also resume its playoff round.

The league started the playoffs with a pair of matches in the youth division last Tuesday. The top-ranked Joel and the second-seeded Jonah won their semis games against Nahum, 88-78, and Ezra, 89-57, respectively, to arrange their winner-take-all title match this weekend.

After the youth matches, the Gen Cup was supposed to start the playoffs in the adults division last Thursday. However, the two games were called off, as the Ada gym was flooded due to heavy rains that started last Wednesday. The pair of matches last Saturday were also canceled as the tropical depression that brought continues rain on Saipan turned into Tropical Storm Omais.

The four quarterfinal matches will be played tonight and tomorrow. Today’s pairings are Gideon versus Joshua (first match) and Jeremiah against Daniel (second game), while tomorrow, the top-ranked Samuel will take on last-seeded Isaiah in the first game at 6:30pm and Ezekiel and Caleb will play in the second match at 8pm. The single-elimination playoffs will continue this week and organizers are hoping to hold the finals this Saturday.

Besides the Gen Cup and SBL playoffs, games in the 2016 Tan Holdings Inter-Company Basketball League and an ocean swim in Pau Pau Beach were also called off.

The last three matches in the regular season of the Tan Holdings caging will be played this Friday, while the new schedule of the ocean swim has yet to be announced.