By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

THE Pacific Islands Club secured the third playoffs ticket in the 2006-2007 Inter-Hotel Basketball League/HANMI Cup after pulling off an 84-81 win over Saipan Grand Hotel last Thursday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gym.
PIC improved to a 5-2 record for third place in the team standings. Aqua Resort Club and Hyatt notched the first two semis berths with their 7-0 and 6-2 slates, respectively.
Saipan Grand dropped to a 3-4 record, losing three of their last four matches after an impressive 2-0 start. With one game left, SGH will need a miracle to at least force a playoff for the last seat in the next round.
SGH, Nikko Hotel (3-4) and Fiesta Resort (4-2) are the three teams fighting for the last playoffs slot.
Fiesta has the strongest chances to get the final seat among the three squads, as it has two remaining games. It needs only one win and the mission maybe easy, as Fiesta will face two teams which are already eliminated in the tournament. Fiesta squares off with Hafa Adai (1-6) on Thursday and Marianas Resort (2-4) in its last game.
With both teams hoping to move into the next round, PIC and Saipan Grand slugged it out from start to finish with the latter almost stealing the game in the last one minute of the match before the former secured the victory from the free-throw line.
PIC shot 7-of-12 from the 15-foot line in the last minute of the game to thwart the stubborn SGH.
The San Antonio-based squad was threatened in the last minute of the game when SGH’s Shan Seman nailed a triple cutting the lead to a deuce, 73-75, with 59.2 left on the clock.
SGH played pressured defense trying to trap James Abuy on the right sideline, opposite the PIC bench. But before a phalanx of SGH defenders caught Abuy, the PIC gunner threw the ball to Richard Pambid, who was in the shaded lane and drilled an undergoal stab to give his team a 77-73 lead, with 44 second left in the game.
Still, SGH did not give up scoring six points in the last 40 seconds of the game. But PIC countered with seven free throws, as SGH was forced to give up fouls to stop the clock and hope PIC would miss, to seal the victory.
Pambid and Alfred Fernandez topscored for PIC with 20 points apiece, while Abuy contributed 19 markers and was named PTI Best Player of the Game, as he added seven rebounds, six assists and four steals.
Dindo Pablo led SGH with 23 markers.
In the second game, Hyatt ended its campaign in the regular season with a bang following its 96-78 rout of Hafa Adai.
Dillay paced Hyatt with 23 points, but it was Edmark Mendoza who notched the PTI Best Player award, as he had a double-double collaring 14 rebounds.
Hyatt’s Bernard Aquino also had an outstanding performances, as he posted the league’s first triple-double with 16 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists. He was four steals away from earning a quadruple-double performance, as he had six steals.
Scores:
First Game:
PIC 84——Pambid 20, Fernandez 20, Abuy 19, Apasan 7, Zapata 4, Bartolo 2, Catacutan 1.
SGH 81—Pablo 23, Seman 17, Opone 17, Dela Torre 16, Bautista 4, Grafil 2.
Quarterscores: 17-19, 41-32, 59-58, 84-81.
Second Game
Hyatt 96—Dillay 23, Umali 17, Mendoza 16, Aquino 16, Vargas 10, Rodriguez 5, Yamamoto 5, Pedernal 2, Tolentino 2.
Hafa Adai 78—Iguel 33, Olaitiman 19, Gokesan 12, Calayag 8, Andal 6.
Quarterscores: 18-13, 51-27, 66-56, 96-78.