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By Robert Balajadia
A foul gets called on Geckos’ Mathew Soto who tries to defend the post move from Friars’ Michael Sakazaki. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
Having played more away games than any other team this season, the Friars added another road victory to their win column and have proven that they can win no matter where they play by defeating the GW Geckos 64-52 Saturday night to give them a 10-0 record at the midpoint of the season.
John Baza led the Friars in scoring for the second straight night with 18 points including six points in the final three minutes to extend the lead 61-52 halting a near Gecko comeback.
“All we really did was pressure up on the guards, we knew that was the key. As soon as we pressured them they started turning over the ball and we capitalized on them,” stated Baza.
The Geckos began the fourth trailing 45-41 but never managed to take the lead despite getting a big lift off the bench from Edward Orland who scored five points in the quarter. Nicolas Aglubat played the momentum killer scoring eight points in the fourth, hitting big shots every time the Geckos would get close.
McDonald’s player of the game: Friars’ John Baza. 18 points
After a layup by Rashaun Blas to cut the FD lead 53-49, Aglubat hit a transition three pointer to give them the 56-49 lead at the three minute mark that got the Friar faithful off their seat in excitement while getting some Geckos fans off their seat as well but for an early exit.
“My coaches have been wanting me to shoot all season. When I get the open shot they want me to shoot it so I’ve been practicing. I just had it going and it was falling today,” Aglubat stated on hitting the big fourth quarter shots. He finished with 17 points.
The Geckos led 17-14 after the first quarter but would not get another lead after a Baza bucket which gave the Friars their first lead 21-20. GW started slow in each quarter going turnover heavy due to the full court pressure by the Friar defense.
Baza closed out the third quarter, much like he did in the fourth, scoring five points in the final two minutes to give the Friars a definitive lead. The Geckos turned to Blas in the closing seconds of the third, scoring four points off acrobatic layups to cut the lead 45-41. It seemed Blas was poised for a fourth quarter takeover, like he has done previous times this season, but the defense took the ball out of his hands forcing other Geckos to take big shots.
Geckos’ Devin Maluwelmeng gets a piece of the ball on a shot attempt from Friars’ Michael Sakazaki. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
Undefeated means almost nothing to Friar head coach Eddie Pelkey and the winning mind set has definitely settled in with his players. Baza commented on being unbeaten saying, “It really doesn’t matter at all. We just need to focus on every game that is coming, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves just because we are undefeated. We are taking it one game at a time.”
Blas led the Geckos in scoring with 14 points while Jason Frias added 12 points in the loss. Sakazaki added 14 points for FD alongside the scoring from Baza and Agulbat.
The Friars varsity team will not play another game until the Far East Tournament next week while the Geckos will travel down south to face the ND Royals on Tuesday.
Other Scores
St. Paul 61, JFK 58
Sheik Carino scored team high 28 points to lead the Warriors over a tough Islanders squad. Jason Aquino added 17 points for St. Paul while Paolo Hermosilla led JFK with 15 points.
Okkodo 52, St. John’s 50
Sanchez 52, Harvest 51
Guam High 54, Notre Dame 49
JV Scores
Okkodo 69, St. John’s 27
JFK 51, SPC 50
PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Geckos’ Jason Frias attempts the fadeaway shot over the Friars defense. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
Friars’ Bruce Merrill scores the fast break layup. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
Geckos’ Devin Maluwelmeng scores the layup off an up and under. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
Friars’ Michael Sakazaki attempts the jumper over three Geckos defenders. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
Friars’ John Baza scores the fast break layup off his own steal. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
Geckos’ Jason Frias forces the turnover to score the easy layup. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
Friars’ Michael Sakazaki makes a move towards the basket in the post against Geckos’ Devin Maluwelmeng. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
Geckos’ Mathew Soto gets his shot blocked from behind by Friars’ Michael Sakazaki. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
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