FRIARS ROUTE ROYALS BY 22 POINTS

By Kolby Chang

The FD Friars were simply too much for the ND Royals as the Mangilao school blew out the visitors 58-36 Friday night in the IIAAG Boys’ Basketball League at the FD Phoenix Center. The Friars improved their record to 2-1 and bounced back from a close loss to the Southern High Dolphins earlier this week.

“We did a better job stopping the ball compared to the last game,” Friars coach Eddie Pelkey said in reference to the Dolphins’ game. “We still need to do a better job rebounding and we need to do a better job executing in our half court sets.”

Now the Friars are preparing to face a stern challenge this Saturday in the form of the undefeated Guam High Panthers. “It’s the most important game we have this season because it’s next,” added Pelkey.

The Friars closed out the first quarter on a high note as Roy Taimanglo hit a one-handed running floater in the lane right before the buzzer to make the score 14-4. The Royals were unable to get their offense going throughout a majority of the first half as the Friars were quick on defense and continually clogged the lane to prevent any drives from the visiting team.

The Royals’ Sage Afaisen finally dropped in a 10 foot jumper midway through the second quarter to make 23-8. Jaron Javefosa’s three ball capped a mini-run by the Royals to get the lead down to 29-13 going into the half.

The Friars opened up the third quarter with some nice long distance shooting as Taimanglo and Javier Dimla buried back-to-back triples. Towards the end of the quarter Javefosa dropped a slick bounce pass to Afaisen who finished the fast break with a left-handed layup to bring the score to 41-19.

It was more of the same for the Friars in the fourth quarter as they continued to attack the hoop at will and also hit some midrange shots. Bruce Merrill got in on the action as he received the ball on an inbounds pass and drove straight to the rack. The Royals’ defense immediately converged on Merrill and he found David
Sakazaki wide open underneath the basket for the layup to put Friars up 51-25.

Merrill finished the game with 13 points, while Sakazaki added nine points and Javier Dimla chipped in seven points.

Isaiah Sablan lead the Royals with 10 points. Roland Balajadia added six points and Javefosa scored five points.

Other Scores

Sanchez 47, Okkodo 45
FD 58, ND 36
JFK 60, Harvest 48
GW 64, Southern 63
St. Paul 56, St. John’s 30

PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

FD’s Tristan Jose goes up for a difficult shot and was fouled in the process. (photo by Joey Blas)

FD’s Noel Carlos receives a pass in the paint and puts it in for 2 points. (photo by Joey Blas)

ND’s Ethan Langas receives the inbound and dribbles the ball down court. (photo by Joey Blas)

FD’s Bruce Merrill drives the ball down the baseline and lays it in. (photo by Joey Blas)