Northern Construction Pulls Away From Team Lagman, 87-71, in League Opener

MANGILAO, Guam – RJ Diwa scored 20 points and Northern Construction used an early 18-0 run and a big fourth quarter to beat newcomer Team Lagman 87-71 on Wednesday night in the opening game of the Triton Men’s Basketball League season at the UOG Calvo Field House.

Team Lagman, new to the league this season, scored the first three points of its debut, but Northern Construction answered with an 18-0 run. Eric Ruiz, Rens Hernandez, Elmar Moradas and Rudy Onde accounted for all 18, with Onde scoring seven of them. Lagman went nearly seven minutes without a basket before Lawrence Tisalona scored with 2:52 left in the first quarter, and Northern led 20-7 after one.

Lagman didn’t go away. It outscored Northern Construction 24-21 in the second quarter behind eight points from Juan Llanto, including two threes. A 9-2 stretch cut the deficit to 25-19 with 5:31 left in the half. Northern answered with a 6-0 burst, and Diwa scored 10 points in the period as Northern led 41-31 at the break.

Lagman kept pressing after halftime. It opened the third quarter on an 11-5 run, with Tisalona and Harold Gaerlan each scoring four points, to cut the lead to 46-42 with 4:44 left. Nono Alvarado scored six in the quarter to steady Northern Construction, which led 57-52 going into the fourth.

Lagman got even closer early in the final quarter. De-ala scored six straight Lagman points, pulling within 57-56 and then 59-58 with 8:45 left. That was as close as it got. Northern Construction answered with a 19-6 run to build a 78-64 lead, with Diwa scoring eight points and Hernandez adding eight, including all four of his free throws. A Moradas three-pointer with 1:56 left made it 85-67, the biggest lead of the night.

Five Northern Construction players finished in double figures. Diwa led with 20, Hernandez had 15, Alvarado 13, Onde 11 and Ruiz 10. Moradas added seven on two threes.

For Team Lagman, Ken Brozo scored 16 points with three threes, De-ala had 15, Tisalona 12 and Llanto eight. Gaerlan and Jose Ignacio each added six.

In the 8:15 p.m. nightcap, KFC Nationals routed Wu-Tang 115-58. KFC led 28-10 after the first quarter and 53-23 at halftime, then scored 38 points in the fourth. Ben Borja led KFC with 26 points, 11 of them in the fourth, followed by AJ Grape with 22, Mike Sakazaki with 16, Chris Conner with 15 and Mark Johnson with 11. Joshua Sellars scored 28 for Wu-Tang, including 10 in each of the third and fourth quarters. Dana Holmes added 11 and Trey Harvey 10.

The league returns Saturday, Oct. 17, at the UOG Calvo Field House, with KFC Nationals facing the UOG Tritons at 2:30 p.m. and Northern Construction taking on the Andersen Bombers at 4:30 p.m.

This game was scored using The ScoreBench.

About The ScoreBench

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