Both teams have the desire and the determination to win but time could only be on one side – and that was on the side of Autonomous.
This situation resulted with Autonomous holding a 2-1 win-lose card, while Tinian taking home a 1-2 win-lose ticket.
Autonomous’ Ponce Rasa earned himself 47 points in the match, which can be considered a do-or-die for both teams, knowing they were one step close to falling from the winner’s bracket.
Rasa is on the top 11 list of high scorers in the league.
Rasa scored the highest in the said game, besting Ringo Reyes of Tinian who was three points short from Rasa’s.
Observing from the benches, Rasa and Reyes seemed to be exchanging talks with each other by firing shots through the basket.
Both cagers actually tried to up each other with shots that could have made the basket hot on the rim and the net wear out.
It was a slow moving play for Rasa in the first quarter, making only five points, while Reyes crafting 10-point baskets.
25-21 was the score in the initial period in favor of Tinian.
At the end of the second period, Autonomous and Tinian tied the score at 53.
Eventually, at the close of the third quarter, Autonomous tallied 82 – two points away ahead of Tinian.
No. 16 jersey, Anthony Borja of Tinian made a three-point opening salvo in the start of the fourth quarter. And he relished it for his team.
But Autonomous’ Bobby Coldeen responded with his own three points in the succeeding minutes.
As time ticked towards the end, Tinian’s Peter Manglona fired a rainbow shot in the succeeding minutes. This was followed by a couple more three points by Borja.
But Tinian ran out of loads to fire; Reyes was the last to score for his team, and this created a six-point gap between the two teams’ gameplans.
Minutes ticked off, and the alarm sounded in the Ada Gym, signaling the end of the match.
Autonomous got as far as 118 points, while Tinian had to content itself with 112 points.
Currently, there are now only four teams playing in the winners’ bracket. They are Pacific Telecommunications Inc., Northern Marianas College, Department of Corrections, and Autonomous.
Scores:
Autonomous – 118: Rasa – 47; Coldeen – 27; Richard Brostrom – 20; Chris Camacho – 15; and Tim Wesley – 9.
Tinian – 112: Borja – 23; Richard Morgan – 3; Julian Santos – 24; Manglona – 9; Reyes – 44; and J.R. Sablan 6.
