The Ol Aces achieved an early edge in the first quarter of the game after team players Ryan Ichihara collared 5 points, a combination of a down town shot followed by a lay up shot, whilst his teammates Ryna Lisua, Trevor Ogumoro, and Juan Maratita scored 4 points a piece to take possession of the driver’s seat of the game.
By the end of the quarter the Ol Aces were leading by 10 points, 19-9.
This did not daunt team Sparks and they played even harder in the second quarter of the game. Sahj Hossain scored 6 points while teammate and center man Eugene Manglona contributed his 4 points in their herculean attempt to fix the damage made in the first quarter but the Ol Aces had an answer to this kind of challenge.
Maratita and Douglas Dillay breached past the Sparks’ defense to score 4 points a piece, a total of 8 points to stay ahead of the game. By half time the Ol Aces held on to their lead, that was snipped by the Sparks, by 4 points; 28-23.
Both teams entered the second half the bout strongly. The Sparks finally got their act together and yanked the lead away from the Ol Aces in the third quarter of the game. Ichitaro Faisao scored 10 points for the Sparks while his teammates fended off the other 9 points to successfully grab the lead away from the Ol Aces.
At the bottom of third quarter, the Sparks were leading by 3 points 42-39.
Both teams anticipated the final quarter as everything came down to these final then minutes.
The game was thrown back and forth in the first five minutes of the final quarter. But the game became intense in the final 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
Juan Maratita and Wes Tomokane skillfully scored the last jump shots in the last minute and half of the quarter to snatch the lead from the Sparks. The score was tied 57 all in the last 50 seconds of the game.
Unfortunately for the Sparks, Tomokane scored another jump shot to advance two points ahead of them.
Maratita was then fouled in the final 25 seconds of the game. The referees gave him two charity shots and he was able to sink one in.
It was history for the Sparks as the finals seconds ticked down upon them while the Ol Aces’ defense was stronger than over.
At the end of the game the Ol Aces aviated past the Sparks by 3 points, 60-57. The Ol Aces will challenge the Sonics in this evening’s Championship match.
The consolation round between the G-Stars and the Sparks will be posted up in Tuesday’s edition of the Marianas Variety.
Scores:
Ol Aces– J. Maratita 16, T. Ogumoro 11, R. Lisua 8, R. Ichihara 7, W. Tomokane 6, D. Dillay 5, L. Taylor 4, K. De Leon 4.
Sparks– I. Faisao 16, S. Hossain 12, J. Norita 10, E. Manglona 10, M. Manglona 4, R. Sarmiento 4.
