Rabauliman converted lay ups along the left baseline to pull the G-Stars away from the Sonics who were picking up in the beginning of the second half.
Also grabbing most offensive rebounds, Rabauliman gave the Sonics a hard time with a series of inside plays with a big help from brothers, Dan and Nate Mateo’s assists.
Earlier in the first period, Rodney Salas and Nate Mateo led the offense scoring six and eight respectively and Dan Mateo made two consecutive two-pointers to hand the G-Stars an eight-point lead at the end of the first half.
With Tristan Ecalnea, Brian Ajoste and Melvin Cadiang charging the hoops from the left side of the court, the Sonics have started cutting the lead in the first three minutes of the second half.
However, dribbling and passing errors held the Sonics back giving the G-Stars the chance to stretch the lead again with Rabauliman delivering from his favorite side of the court.
At this time, the G-Stars were putting up a stiff defense against the Sonics.
Melvin Cadiang, Tim Sola and Adrian Palacios managed to slip away and connected their lay ups to cut the lead down to three.
Rabauliman rampaged with five consecutive attacks in the second half and maintain the slim advantage.
Palacios’ jump shots 30 seconds to the ball game cut the lead to one, but the G-Stars tightened the defense and made the clock ran faster than the Sonics to defend their one-point advantage to win the game.
Scores:
G-Stars 47 – M. Rabauliman 18, N. Mateo 10, R. Salas 8, D. Mateo 7, D. De Vero2, J.Jung 2.
Sonics 46 – B. Ajoste 9, T. Ecalnea 9, A. Palacios 6, DM Jeon 6, N. Oei 4, R. Ferrer 2.
Halftime scores: 28-20, 47-46
