Arecibo in BSN finals, awaits opponent

The Capitanes de Arecibo have reached the finals of the Puerto Rico BSN after crushing Pirates de Qubradillas 100-79 in Game 5 their semifinals match-up. Arecibo is now 8-1 in their post-season run and look like strong contenders for this season’s title. They also finished atop of the league at the end of the regular season with a record of 23-13. The last time the club won the title was during their back-to-back reign in 2010 and 2011. So far, so good as they appear to be in good form to take on any challengers so far this season.

Arecibo leaned on the aggressive and efficient play of Renaldo Balkman, poured in an impressive double-double, scoring 22 points and grabbing 15 boards. He shot 9-of-12 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line. He got some open looks in the paint thanks to some good passing from Walter Hodge who finished the game with 19 points, while dishing out 8 assists. The Capitanes put on an offensive clinic with the team accumulating a total of 23 assists for the game against just nine for Quebradillas which was just in some sort of funk.

Quebradillas tried their best to win the game via their long-range shooting. Despite their nailing 11 of their 33 attempts from downtown, Arecibo’s dominant control of the paint and ability to connect with higher percentage shots was too much of an uphill battle for them to overcome. Andre Emmett led the way for Quebradillas with 22 points and five rebounds. Unfortunately, he did not get much support from the rest of his team. Only Darius Washington joined Emmet in hitting double digit scoring with 14 points.

Arecibo is awaiting the resolution of the other semifinals series between Cangrejeros de Santurce and Leones de Ponce. That battle could be settled very soon as Ponce is one game away from securing their spot thanks to a 3-2 advantage. They broke their series 2-2 deadlock with a convincing 87-74 win over Santurce. Ponce was the regular season runner-up to Arecibo with a record of 22-14.