Eucon International School's Blazers and Agape Christian School's junior division Torchbearers both grinded out wins in last Friday's Marianas Interscholastic Sports Organization 2013 boys high school basketball matches held at the Marians High School Gymnasium.

The Blazers stirred up a healthy lead in the second quarter and hung on to make it past Mount Carmel School's Knights, 56-49, while in the curtain raiser the Jr. Torchbearers established control over Saipan International School's Jr. Geckos from the tip and coasted to a sound 39-26 victory.

Eucon's win marked its first in three tries, while ACS improved to a 2-1 win-loss card.

There were no games yesterday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as the season continues at MHS Gym tomorrow at 4pm with a varsity, junior varsity, and freshmen division tripleheader between the MHS Dolphins (2-0) and the Manta Rays (1-0) of Saipan Southern High School.

The varsity match started out in a 13-all dead heap as Eucon's Allen Yu and MCS' William Camacho paced their respective squads 9 nine points apiece, but the Blazers' front man took over the game in the second quarter with another 9 markers to push Eucon ahead, 26-15, at the half.

He took a seat during the third verse, which allowed the Knights to creep back into the game thanks to a 7-point string by Camacho late in the period that put them within two possessions, 28-34, heading into the final 10 minutes.

MCS flirted with a comeback by nailing a trio of 3-pointers and briefly made it a one-basket game, 45-47, with four minutes left in regulation, but Eucon's Yu broke loose shortly after for 8 clutch points, which were complemented by a 3-pointer by Jordan Butcher that nailed in the coffin.

Yu finished with a game-high 30 points, while MCS' Camacho turned in 20 on the short end.

In the junior varsity game, the Torchbearers darted off to an 18-12 favor off 10 points by Ziyue Lin.

The Geckos were then contained to just three checks in the second quarter, while Agape pressed on to a 26-15 advantage at halftime. Lin added another handful in the exchange.

Both teams more or less traded baskets in the third quarter, which shifted the count to 31-22 heading into the final period and the Torchbearers' Meng En Li coming off the bench for 5 points that helped preserve the win.

Lin's 15 points topped the box score, while Andrew Johnson scrambled for 14 in defeat.

Varsity

Eucon 56 - Yu 30, T Li 11, Ren 6, Ja. Wang 4, Zhou 3, Je. Wang 2.

MCS 49 - Camacho 20, Evangelista 8, Jung 6, Quinn 5, Ogasawara 4, Taguchi 3.

Scoring by quarters: 13-13, 26-15, 34-28, 56-49.

Junior Varsity

ACS 39 - Lin 15, Me Li 7, Yang 5, Puno 5, Dat Ti Tran 3, Dat Th Tran 2, Shi 2.

SIS 26 - Johnson 14, Cepeda 10, Kim 2, Ramsey 2.

Scoring by quarters: 18-12, 26-15, 31-22, 39-26.