FILAUS Basketball Club veterans trounced a youthful Flight Club, 52-46, in the final to win the inaugural GM 1 Matira Ang Matibay basketball tournament at Bankstown Stadium on Saturday, October 11, 2014. Nine teams took part.
By RAY POLICARPIO
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Erratic shots from the youthful Flight Club crew did not help efforts to stay in the game against the spirited Fil Aus quintet.
Two contrasting team profiles, two contrasting team moulds, and two contrasting roads to the grand finals made up the main protagonists.
The talent, maturity and experience of the Fil Aus Club’veterans’ was just too much for was youth, tenacity and energy of the Flight Club on the day.
Flight Club came up from successive quarter-final and tight semi-final games to get into the main round.
Fil Aus had the luxury of resting their old legs when they had the top ranking after the eliminations to reach the finals, feeling fresh although their 48-45 semi-final win was a heart-stopper that was decided in the final 8 seconds through a game-winning trey by cager Jamie Uy.
Having the rhythm from their previous games, the Flight Club team banked on the solid performances of indefatigable Jude Villanueva, high flying Emmi Woelders, solid center JR Bullivant, backcourt general Glenn Meneses, speedster Jerome Danganan and tireless wingman Chris Woelders to take up leads of 6 and 8 points going into the second quarter.
Fil Aust countered with calculated plays from charismatic veteran Ricky Bautista, trey specialist Karlo Enrico, J specialist Jamie Uy, bruise brothers Lester Ingusan and Alex Pacubas, peppery shooting guard Louie Calauag and center Mike Espiritu to keep the game close in the third and fourth quarters.
It took the sniping of Enrico, Ingusan, Pacubas, Uy and timely shots from team captain Ricky Bautista to build a slim but comfortable lead going into the last few minutes of the game.
Bautista was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
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PICTURE:
Flight Club sentinel Chris Woelders, with the ball, in a reverse layup.
