Report by Jun Rana
Dynamic Excel pulled away from a tight first half behind the juggernaut quartet of Rich Bandoy, Joe Miranda, Will imperial and Mark Pr’Out to beat Maricas 66-40 and earned a seminal spot in the playoffs. The loss eliminated the Cinderella team of the tournament Maricas Oriental Store which was unbeaten at the elimination rounds.
Early in the first half Excel built a 20-9 lead with 11 minutes remaining behind the lay ups and jumpers of Will Imperial, Will Barnes and Mark Pr’Out. However, Maricas egged on by its loyal fans and led by El Persons, Dave Setters, Joseph Tanseco and Alex Alday, showed its fighting heart and answered back with an 11-2 run to cut the lead to 22-20 at halftime.
In the second half however, a 21-6 scoring blitz led by Bandoy, Miranda and Imperial gave Excel a commanding 43-26 lead, time down to 8 minutes. At this point, it was clear that Excel’s running game and good defense had taken its toll on Maricas who could not muster enough offense to threaten Excel. Maricas tried all the tricks in its arsenal including lay ups, jump shots and three points shots, but it was not clearly their day. BJ Advento, its top scorer averaging 14 points a game was held to only 5 points in the entire game. The reliable Marlowe Ulit did not score in the entire game after several attempts in the basket most of them lay ups.
And for Excel’s coach Mike Sanchez who rotated his players well specially down the stretch, it’s all smiles for him and his players who now play the Baltimore Dragons in the semifinals.
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Box Scores:Dynamic Excel-Phi:
Imperial, Will, 13; Miranda, Joe, 11; Pr'Out, Mark, 10; Bandoy, Rich, 10; Balagtas, Dennis, 7; Barnes, Will, 5; Valera, R.J, 4; Holcomb, Jeff, 3; Sanchez, Mike, 3Maricas Oriental Store:
Persons, El, 11; Setters, Dave, 10; Alday, Alex, 6; Advento, BJ, 5; Tanseco, Joseph, 4; Lizardo, Jay, 2; Aquino, Norman, 2
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