Frolich Court 2

Mambas vs Hawks

Post Game
Black Mambas had upset on their minds to start the game as Mayhem Merto was on fire from deep to give his team an early lead. Jemy Quindoy kept Black Hawks within striking distance with a couple of 3 point bombs from the right elbow. Kevin Gesulga was shifty on his dribble drives, while Mark Gozun started to dominate down low to give Black Hawks a 3 point lead at half. Kale Ercia went Bizzerk in the 3rd quarter as he stretched the Black Hawk lead into double digits. Ethan Leano was a menace on the offensive end and Mayhem continued to hit his target to shrink the deficit as low as 6 points in the 4th quarter, but Black Hawks was able to settle their defense down in the final minutes and advance to the Semi-Finals with a 14 point win. Black Mambas have the off season to think what might have been if they had a full team at every game, while Black Hawks have a showdown with the only team that beat them this season.
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Wolverines vs Legion

Post Game
Shan Boparai looked impressive right off the first tip as he drove straight down the lane for an easy layup, but the rest of the game Iron Legion completely dominated. Iron Legion would cruise to an easy victory and led in every important statistical category. War Wolverines died by the three going 3-23, while Legion went an impressive 15-33 from behind the arc. Legion outrebounded Wolverines 39-29, out assisted Wolverines 27-6, and had only 6 turnovers with 17 by War Wolverines. Jacob Ramirez needed that second half scoring to build back his confidence as he ended up with 22 points and 11 rebounds. War Wolverines will need the off season to recover from injuries, while Iron Legion will have to wait 2 weeks before they have their second-round matchup.
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Panthers vs Wolves

Post Game Analysis
This game brought joy to my heart, because this reminded me of the tough nitty gritty playoff basketball of the late 90s, it was reminiscent of Knicks vs Heat. The first half went back and forth with Direwolves taking a 5 point lead into half. Both sides looked like they were forcing each other to take tough shots with no easy buckets. The deciding quarter was the third quarter when Direwolves grew their lead to double digits, while Shadow Panthers couldn’t put the ball into the basket with only 8 points in the 3rd. Panthers would make a run in the 4th to cut the lead to only 4, but Direwolves kept their composure and pulled away with a 10 point victory. Santos Crespo proved to be unstoppable with 25 points and 9 rebounds, while Joe Florin 11 points and 7 rebounds led Shadow Patnhers. Direwolves feel like they stole this game, especially without Nick Juan, but it was their defense led by Michael Gabriel that was the talk of the town.
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Bulls vs Cobras

Post Game Analysis
This was the game I was the most excited for and it didn’t disappoint. The action was fast paced with a total of 126 total shots taken, but the story of the game was the amount of 3 pointers taken. Raging Bulls went for a terrible 7-40 shots which most likely cost them the game. King Cobras only went 2-14 from downtown, but I feel they learned early on that taking it to the hole would win them this game. Despite shooting a terrible 3pt%, King Cobras still shot 43.5% from the field led by Justin Gomez’s efficient 71.4%. King Cobras had balance scoring with 4 guys in double digit points, while Mark Leal and VJ Magpali combined for 33 points for Raging Bulls. Both teams were without their starting centers and maybe that contributed to the spacing on offense, but Raging Bulls need to stop settling for threes.
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Legion vs Panthers

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Mambas vs Bulls

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Cobras vs Wolverines

Game Recap
This was easily the most exciting game of the night. These two teams traded blow for blow with both teams having 4 players in double digit scoring. War Wolverines had a big 4th quarter, outscoring King Cobras 23-13 behind the electrifying shooting of Kiko Ronquillo. A lot of shouting and arguing about time left on the clock, but after the dust settled King Cobras had 2.2 seconds to tie this game up in regulation, Bing Patino found Justin Gomez for a 25 foot three pointer, it looked good coming off his fingertips, but the ball was scared of the rim and fell 6or7 inches short. Patrick Juan led the way with 20 points 10 rebounds and 8 assists in the win, while Jed Limbo led King Cobras with 23 points 11 rebound and 5 steals.
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Hawks vs Wolves

Game Recap
This game started off like a normal night in the association as Black Hawks Jumped out to a 9-2 early lead. However, Dire Wolves would bite back as Ivan Sanchez connected on two big threes right in the beautiful face of Bastos Bueno. Dire Wolves felt that their man defense was highly effective as they held Black Hawks to 2-22 from three point land for a measly 9%. Nick Juan showed why he is an MVP candidate as he willed his team to victory and gave Black Hawks their first loss of the season. Michael Hulk Gabriel showed why he is the reigning defensive player of the league, while Gil Ang wok’d and grilled his way to 9 important points, 3 of those at the buzzer to end the half. Mark Gozun and John Frontilla combined for 41 points in the loss. Black Hawks players agreed that this loss might be the adversity they needed, “we thought we were invincible, this loss makes us want to work harder.”
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Wolves vs Bulls

Game Recap
Nick Juan started off strong and got to the basket early and often with spin moves in the paint to give Dire Wolves an early lead. Andrew Hementera countered back by making a living in the paint, coupled with Pirhana Pacuna hitting from downtown kept Raging Bulls within striking distance. The battle in the paint between Santos Crespo and Donald Lopez was exciting to watch, both had good games and both gobbled up a ton of boards. The 4th quarter belonged to Raging Bulls as Mark Leal kept shooting his shot and finally found it in the final 12 minutes. Abe Antonio had a had a good bounce back game with 6 points and 6 rebounds, while Jason Gutierrez had an efficient game in the loss with 12 points on 67% shooting. Both these teams are in the middle of the pack and need to start strategizing where they want to be in the final rankings.
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Legion vs Wolverines

Game Recap
This was ugly offensively for both teams, both teams shot terrible from the 3 point land and arguably shot even worse from the free throw line. The return of Jacob Bam Bam Ramirez was huge for Iron Legion as he was able to dominate inside and limit offensive rebounding for the opposing team. It looked like Iron Legion was going to cruise to a victory, but War Wolverines was able to erase a double digit second half Legion lead to have a chance to tie or win with the last shot. Patrick Juan was able to create a wide open midrange shot but came up short, then had a chance to win a game with a contested 3 but again it fell short. Iron Legion did a great job on the offensive rebounds with Ron Hao and Jacob Ramirez leading the way combining for 10 off rebounds. Iron Legion still have a chance to get the second seed before the season ends. War Wolverines need to shoot 1 for 15 from 3pt land.
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