Report by Jun RanaWith his team threatened in the first half by Dynamics Excel, Isaac Brooks unloaded his three point shooting ammunitions to power the Baltimore Dragons to a 75-58 win over Excel. With the win, the Dragons secured the first seat in finals of the 2009 PAAD Palaro Basketball Championship on August 15, and avenged an earlier round loss to Excel.
Coach Mike Sanchez charges of Excel could have not wished for a better start. Baskets by Will Imperial and Joe Miranda pushed Excel to an 8-0 lead, 18 minutes to go in the first half. The Dragons Coach Ed Padilla then took a timeout and the Dragons answered back with a 19-6 run including three rainbow shots from Brooks, and grabbed the lead at 19-14, 12 minutes remaining in the first half.
With heads up plays from Imperial and Will Barnes, Excel stayed toe to toe with the Dragons down by only two, 29-27 with 3 minutes remaining in the first half. However, Souk Gumatay connected on a layup and Brooks hit another triple to put the Dragons ahead 34-27, 2 minutes to go in the first half. After a basket by Excel in the next possession, Gumatay and Brooks hit back to back triples to end the half at 40-29 for the Dragons. By the end of the first half, Brooks, who electrified the fans with his three point shooting exhibition, already had 20 points for the Dragons.
In the second half, a layup by Miranda of Excel cut the lead of the Dragons to nine, 50-41 with 12 minutes remaining. However, this proved to be Excel’s last hurrah as Edgar Edades of the Dragons answered back with a triple for a 53-41 Dragons lead, time down to 10 minutes. At this stanza, Julio Concepcion and Frank Delgado of the Dragons took over the scoring chores from Brooks and ignited a 20-10 blast which put the game beyond recall at 73-51 for the Dragons, 2 minutes remaining in the game. It was in that decisive stretch that Miranda and Justin Mercado of Excel tried to stop the Dragons onslaught, but to no avail and to the dismay of the Excel fans, one of the loudest in the arena.
Brooks top scored for the Dragons with 24 points including 6 triples, followed by Delgado with 14. For Excel, the top scorers were Mercado, Miranda, Imperial and Barnes with 15, 14, 12 and 11 points, respectively. In the battle of the boards, the Dragons outrebounded Excel, 16-10.
The Dragons will now face the unbeaten GK Warriors who routed them, 99-54 in the opening day. The Dragons however is now a much improved team and has won their last six games of the tournament in convincing fashions. The stage is now set for a dream finale and high drama on Saturday, August 15 between the powerhouse GK Warriors and the surging Baltimore Dragons. And the basketball fans will surely be in for a treat.
2 comments:
What happened to Barnes ?
His game is not that good compared to his previous game.
Congrats Dragons !
Will GK be the Dragon Slayer or these warrior will be served well done on saturday?
What do you think ?
Player by player match up, mukhang lamang ng konti yun GK.
So sa Sat., imho it will be a battle of strategy and coaching.
Congratulations to the Baltimore Dragaons for making it to the finals. I wish them luck against the GK Warriors because they will need a lot of it on saturday. I really hope the Dragons put up a good fight because im getting really bored watching the Warriors blow out every single team they play.
Post a Comment