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By Jesse Pinkston

45+ division’s Lloyd Hartman contests the shot of 40+ division’s Josh Mallone. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)

One would assume that the youngest ‘Guam Masters’ athletes would sweep the games faster than their kitchen floor; however, that wasn’t the case for the 40+ basketballers.  The 45+ undefeated team added another win under their belt and secured the Division II gold medal match after beating 40+, 74-53 Thursday night at the UOG Field House as part of the Guam Masters Games.

Ben Leon Guerrero, captain for 40+ joked that one of the reasons why they haven’t won a game was because it’s their culture to give respect to their elders but this is the playoffs.  Both teams came out aggressive but after a couple of trey’s by Rick Cruz, the 40+ guys took their biggest lead of the game 16-9 with 12 minutes to go in the first half.  45+ quickly closed the gap, eventually taking the lead 37-23 at the half.

Unforced errors and miscommunication added to the 40+ guys deficit and they never caught up.  A one-two punch by Errol Alegre and Cliff Claybrooks got their 45+ team blazing, not to mention a stellar defense combined with a nerve-wrecking half court press.

“It was a matter of getting warmed up,” stated Alegre.  “We were shooting kind of flat and everything was going hard on the rim.”

Alegre’s team meshed really well, which he says is due to the fact they play throughout the year.

“We play in the seniors and masters divisions in other leagues.”

Their fast breaks also helped create a substantial lead and eventual win.  Errol Alegre led all scorers with 18 points while Ken Gutierrez led his team with 17 points.  The 45+ guys will take on 50+ for the Division II gold medal on Friday at 8 p.m. at UOG.

45+ division’s Cliff Claybrooks scores the easy floater. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)

In the other games, 60+ won over 70+, 52-27 and 50+ won 64-60 in OT over 55+. Sam Delin led all scorers with 32 points.

Baseball Tournament

Tamuning Twins  14,   Saipan Masters 13

Tamuning Twins and Saipan Masters played a thriller to start off the Guam Masters Baseball Action Thursday at Leo Palace Baseball Stadium.  What looked to be a runaway win with the Twins leading 14-7 through 4 innings and time ready to expire, the Saipan Masters would make it close with a big 5th inning.  Saipan would score 6 runs in the bottom of the 5th putting the tying run on second base before the Twins would get the third out of the inning to hold on to the 14-13 win.  Vince Delgado picks up the win for the Twins and Dennis Rivera closes out the game picking up the save.  Bob Lizama was 2 for 4 with a double, two runs and three rbi for Saipan who fall to 0-3 for the tournament. Mike Agulto picks up Player of the Game going 2 for 2 for the Twins who improve to 2-1.

Team Yamaha  15, ACI Masters  7

Team Yamaha finished off the round robin portion of the Guam Masters Tournament undefeated at 4-0 with a 15-7 win over the ACI Masters.   Team Yamaha would use a 7 run second inning to take a 8-0 early lead, but ACI Masters would answer back with a 5 run second inning to keep the game close.  But Team Yamaha who have scored 58 runs in 4 games just had too much fire power answering with 4 runs in the 3rd to stretch their lead and take control of the game.  Roland Untalan would pick up the win throwing three innings and Pat Alvarez was Player of the Game going 3-5 at the plate and playing a great shortstop.  Keith Hattig continued his hot hitting going 3-4 with 3 doubles.

The round robin portion of the tournament finishes up Friday.  Saturday the teams start the Championship Round single elimination with the Championship Game schedule for Sunday 10am at Leo Palace Baseball Stadium. (baseball information was provided by Guam Amateur Baseball)

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