A late-game steal by Bumblebee’s Joemark Belardo ensured his team’s second victory in the 2018 season of the APCRAA Basketball Tournament (ABT) against team Mille, 78-74 on Saturday, July 21 at the Asia Pacific College Gymnasium.
Bumblebees’ team captain Brix Estabillo topped all players in the scoring department with 30 points with 5 rebounds and 7 assists. Norman Ringor had another double-double game, scoring 12 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Team Mille’s AJ Yambao had a solid debut game with 25 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists. Ton Ulanday and Rudyard Sunga contributed 15 and 13 points respectively.
Despite the heavy rains, enough players from both teams arrived to start the game on time. Mille had a headstart in the first quarter then the Bumblebees took control of the second quarter until halftime. A fifteen minute delay ensued in halftime as half of the lights of the APC gymnasium went off in the final seconds of the second quarter.
Mille got their second wind in the third quarter and kept the game close until the fourth quarter, tying the game at 72-all with two minutes left in the game. Bumblebee’s Ringor gave his team a two-point lead when he made his two free throws with 22 seconds remaining. Mille then called a timeout to advance the ball to halfcourt. Their inbound pass was intercepted by Joemark Belardo, who passed the ball to Estabillo for a fastbreak layup, sealing the win for Bumblebees.
Both teams will be back in action on July 28 as Mille will be facing fellow expansion Team Knights at 6:30pm while Team Bumblebees goes up against Team OGs at 8:00pm.
THE SCORES (FIBA LiveStats):
BUMBLEBEES (79): Estabillo 30, Ringor 12, Belardo 9, San Diego 6, Macaspac 6, Prion 5, De Luna 4, Pring 3, Trinidad 3, Villas 1, Grepo 0
MILLE (76): Yambao 25, Ulanday 15, Javier 15, Sunga 13, Acdal 9, Ilagan 4, Davis R 0, Adam 0, Alcantara 0, Davis K 0
QUARTERSCORES: 18-19, 40-38, 55-58, 79-76