IT&E’s hit man, Ernie Fernandez got his luck back to hit nine points in the third quarter while Gus Palacios surged in the fourth, and IT&E rallied to win MGD 64 Masters Basketball League’s first championship crown.
“We were trying to hold us back a little bit in the beginning so we can save whatever we have for the next quarter,” team captain, Edzel Mendoza said after the game.
The first quarter ended with Easy Does It putting up a seven-point cushion.
But that was not exactly what IT&E want to happen when they slowed it down a bit. Easy Does It’s defense, Mendoza admitted, left him and Gus Palacios no space to move around so they could at least, work on a manageable first quarter result.
But as Easy Does It’s defense continue to smother, Marlon Sison and Edgar Pangelinan also stole the scene and widened Easy Does It’s lead before the first quarter ended.
At this period, Mendoza missed two unchallenged jump shots while Gus Palacios consistently got mobbed inside the box and did not score a point.
From the same angle where he missed twice earlier, Mendoza tried once again. This time, he went lucky.
Gus Palacios also slipped through and IT&E gained its momentum to cut Easy Does It’s lead down to two points at the end of the first half.
Fernandez got the ball more often in the third quarter to secure two-pointers, one of which earned him an extra free throw as he picked up a foul.
Bruce Berline’s offensive rebounds against Easy Does It’s center, Joe Tudela also helped IT&E bounce back in this period.
Fernandez, Palacios and Mendoza fired two-pointers in the last minute of the third quarter to take the lead.
With Marlon Sison who fired his second three-pointer and Edgar Pangelinan continuing his scoring surge, Easy Does It took the lead again in the beginning of the fourth quarter.
IT&E tightened their defense with Palacios intercepting Easy Does It’s midcourt passes and went for lay ups unopposed to pull IT&E away.
Palacios scored 10 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, while Fernandez tallied with 24 points and Mendoza had 21 points.
Pangelinan who led Easy Does It set the lead in the first quarter finished with 17 points while Marlon Sison who managed to use four of his five fouls cleverly chipped in 16 points.
Scores:
IT&E 77 – E. Fernandez 24, E. Mendoza 21, G. Palacios 17, B. Berline 11, J. Palacios 4.
Easy Does It 70 – E. Pangelinan 17, M. Sison 16, O. Masga 8, O. Sablan 8, J. Tudela 5, J. Deleon Guerrero 4, D. Demapan 4, E. Abuan 2, A. Mesa 2, Reyes 2.
Quarterscores: 16-23, 38-40, 57-51, 77-70.
//
