Benavente poured-in seven of his 19 points as he and Matthew Duenas helped the Sixers keep pace in the first half.
Several missed shots however, cut the Sixers short of tying the game towards half time with Ol’ Aces’ Luther Taylor leading the attack at this juncture.
Matthew Duenas and Joe Ada completed consecutive fast breaks as the Sixers clamped the Ol’ Aces offense with Nate Flores and Rico Salas taking successful steals.
The Ol’ Aces set a whole court defense but with Benavente staying on his usual route at the right side of the court, the Sixers managed to slipped in and turned it into a neck-and-neck game.
Ada and Duenas fired two-pointers to maintain the lead but Ol’ Aces’ Trevor Ogumoro cut it down to two with his three-pointer less than a minute to the ball game.
The Sixers tightened the defense to protect the lead as Matt Duenas and Benavente connected inside shots.
With two minutes left, Benavente basketed two penalty shots shots Salas put in another two points for their three-point lead. However, Ogumoro wiped this again with his second three-point shot.
Matt Duenas fired another two-point shot and the Sixers killed time leaving the Ol’ Aces no choice but to stop the clock four times in an attempt to recover.
These however, did not work out as the Sixers kept the ball tight.
Scores:
Sixers 60 – I. Benavente 19, J. Ada 12, M. Duenas 12, E. Duenas 9, R. Salas 9, N. Flores 4.
Ol’ Aces 58 –T. Ogumoro 16, L. Taylor 10, W. Tomokane 10, K. Deleon 8, D. Ngirahongor 8, D. Deleon Guerrero 6, J. Charley 2.
Halftime scores: 26-29, 60-58
