By Jay Leon Guerrero

It was a battle of two undefeated team with the Guam National Team taking on the University of the East (UE) from the Philippines in the night cap at the UOG Calvo Field House of the Guam Invitational Basketball Tournament  (GIBT). Both teams played stingy defense, but in the end Guam pulled away to win 80-63  thanks to good shooting from Darren Hechanova and Joe Blas.

The two combined for 37 points, making clutch jump shots in crucial moments to keep momentum on Guam’s side in the second half.

GAME SEQUENCE

Edgar Charcos gave the UE its first lead with a lay-in to go up 7-5. Guam later tied the contest at 10-10 with Hechanova feeding center Curtis Washington with an alley oop dunk. Ronnie de Leon from UE and Hechanova went back and forth in scoring as the game stayed tied at 17-17 after the opening quarter.

Guam started the second quarter off on a 7-0 run with Hechanova and Mekeli Wesley scoring from the free throw line. Guam maintained the lead with Blas scoring six points to close out the half, going into the locker room up 37-29 at halftime.

East continued to show full court pressure and cut their deficit to 44-40 with Alvin Pasao making a step back three-pointer. Guam then went on a 12-2 run in the following two minutes with Blas scoring a reverse lay-in and then Hechanova joining the party hitting a long jumper and later tipping in his own miss to open up a 56-42 lead.

Guam led 64-50 after three quarters with Blas sinking a deep three with the shot clock expiring to close out a huge third quarter.

UE showed signs of offensive spurts in the final period but the shooting of Hechanova and Blas countered every basket.

Despite the win, Team Guam was forced to commit 27 turnovers due to the constant full court pressure from UE. UE’s Omar Larupay had three steals, De Leon, Charcos, and Rey Acuno each had two steals.

Russ Wesley recorded the games only double-double with 12 points and 10 boards. Blas had a team-high 19 points and nine rebounds.  Washington had five points,  nine rebounds and five huge blocks. Hechanova made 8-10 field goals for 18 points.

Pasao was the games top scorer with 23 points, Charcos has 11 points and five rebounds for UE.

“We were a little sloppy in the first half, we weren’t getting to our spot in order to break their press in the first half,” said Blas. Blas said that Guam head coach EJ Calvo went over their press breaker at halftime and his team settled down and took the double digit lead in the third quarter.

The playoffs start on Friday with the UOG Tritons taking on the Guam Nationals at 6 pm and UE going against National University at 8 pm to see who will go to the championship on Saturday.

“It’s great to play in front of a home crowd and I urge everyone who likes to see high level basketball to come out for the playoffs. We are not going to have a big tournament like that this for a while,” said Blas.

In the opener, National University cruised by the UOG Tritons 90-38.