Defending champ Warriors gain ground in Clutch preseason tournament

The Independent Interscholastic Athletic Association of Guam defending champions, the St. Paul Christian School Warriors, improved to 2-0 in the third annual Clutch High School Basketball Classic on Wednesday, handing the powerful Guam High School Panthers their first tournament loss of the preseason, 64-55. The Warriors opened with an 8-2 run, with Rui Ventura controlling the offensive glass and making a pair of baskets, but the Panthers fought back to close the quarter with a 19-14 lead. Guam High's Ben Harris and Melo Romero powered the Panthers' offense, physical play inside the paint and 3-point shooting set as the canvases for their dominant play. In the first eight minutes, Harris drained a pair of shots from long-range, finishing the frame with an unmatched 9 points. Romero, whose play and all-court ability is getting noticed, dropped in a pair of 2-pointers. However, for the majority of the game, the Warriors rendered Harris and Romero relatively ineffective on offense. In the second stanza, Warriors playmaker and offensive catalyst Xander Sanchez got hot, scoring a 3-pointer, going hard to the lane for a pair of layups and draining two free throws. Sanchez's inspired play and Ventura's shot-altering, board-crashing dominance allowed St. Paul to pull within a point at halftime. 'We struggled in the first half, but, this team, we never quit,' said the Warriors' Raven Pascual. 'We were down, but we knew we had more in us.' After the break, the Warriors controlled the court and the Panthers at Father Duenas Memorial School's The Jungle gym. With Sanchez running the offense and making plays and the entire St. Paul squad locking down on defense, the Warriors opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run. Pascual, who finished with a game-high 21 points, swished a shot from beyond the arc and turned three straight Panthers turnovers into easy, fast-break, transition layups. Aiding the Warriors on both ends of the court, Sanchez finished with 18 points and Ventura poured in 14, grabbed 14 rebounds and swatted away five shots. But before the Warriors were able to excel, they needed to be dialed in. Pascual said that their coach, Julian Canovas, settled them down at halftime. 'Our coach was calming us down,' Pascual said. 'We knew we had to flip that switch, knowing that we could be better than who we were in the first half.' In the third quarter, the Warriors upped their lead to 45-32, but Guam High's Joey Delia chipped away at the double-digit lead, knocking down a 3-point shot from range and making another basket. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Warriors led 49-41 but couldn't put away Guam High. Romero opened the frame with a 3-pointer and teammate Cam Brantley turned three consecutive St. Paul turnovers into a trio of hard, pounding trips to the hoop via the baseline. The Warriors tried to stop Brantley, but had no response for his creativity, athleticism and game-changing ability. Brantley finished the quarter with 9 points, adding to his team-high 19, but the clock, as it always does, wound down to zero, and the Panthers walked away with their first loss of the tournament. With several 6-foot-plus players on the Panthers' roster, the smaller yet determined Warriors knew that size and mismatches were going to be tough. They also knew they were up to the challenge. 'Our team, this year, is very short compared to last year,' Pascual said. 'But that doesn't give us an excuse to not work hard. As a small team this year, we have the pressure to beat odds. We have to box out due to our size and we've got to fight, no matter what.'
Courtesy of: postguam.com