Led by main man Colby, the Squires immediately jumped to an early lead. The Warriors tried to mount a comeback, but the Squires held their ground. The Squires held on to a 7-point lead, 20-13, at the end of the first quarter.
In the second period the Squires continued its hot shooting as it widened its lead at the start of the quarter. Unable to hold their ground, the Warriors wilted under a torrent of baskets made by Colby and Corey.
The half ended with the Squires ahead by a mile, 40-28.
But the situation in the third canto changed entirely.
After trailing by 12 at the start of the third period, the Warriors, led by Marvic and CT, suddenly awoke from a cold-shooting night to unload points after points against a collapsing Squires’ defense. Facing an unexpected comeback, the Squires held its own against the rampaging to Warriors, and still lead by 12, 60-48, entering the fourth and final quarter.
Finding their opponents complacent again, the Warriors made another spirited rally and were able to knot the score, 78-all, at the end of regulation.
But the Warriors rally only held from there. After finding itself in the throes of defeat after leading by as many as 12 points in the game, the Squires turned to its vaunted defense to carve out a 2-point overtime win, 89-87, at the final buzzer.
Colby paced ESH with his team-high 31 points; Corey added 16, while Mahd and Garret each chipped in 8 markers. The losing team was bannered by the game-high 35 points of Marvic, who hit three triples. CT added 31 points and RB contributed 16 markers.
For winning the tournament, the Squires received a trophy from the tournament organizers.
An inter-school tournament, ISL JV is supervised by the Palau Basketball Federation.
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