By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The OJNA/IYB Mobile Bar Crocodiles notched their second straight win, prevailing over powerhouse ODM Sportswear, 85-77, in the 2019 JB Amateur basketball league.
Struggling to find their rhythm and having probles defensively against a tough ODM squad, the OJNA Crocodiles trailed in the first quarter by 10 points, 20-10.
With momentum behind them, ODM looked to play a steady game with their pace, pounding it hard inside the paint and feeding a hot and trigger-ready Inno Miclat, who finally found his range from rainbow country.
Miclat bombed seven shots from deep and tallied 27 huge points in his break-out game.
OJNA’s main gunner, Jayjay Guanzon, then delivered the turning point of the game, as he went into a scoring blitz, firing 13 straight points to help his team climb back into the ball game.
The pace then went OJNA’s way, as ODM tried to dump the ball inside to Paul Poral several times but struggled with double teams from the OJNA big men.
OJNA then picked up the pace to negate ODM’s paint defense to settle, and it proved to be effective as momentum shifted to their side.
With a minute left in the ball game, the score was locked at 77 and both teams were looking to jump ahead.
OJNA then took the lead, courtesy of a JC Argamoso trey.
Tthe Crocodiles never looked back, holding ODM scoreless for the rest of the game.
Guanzon then iced the game with a three-pointer and a deuce leading up to his second best-player-of-the-game award with 25 points, 6 dimes, and a block.
Meanwhile, in the second game, the Asialink/E&C Trucking dispatched the JKG/CTG Commercial, 94-71, with Ralph Bajon winning player-of-the-game honors, chipping in 29 points, 5 assists, and 4 boards.
