Marinos de Anzoategui wins Venezuela LPB

Marinos de Anzoategui made it back to back Venezuelan league titles with an 81-85 road win over Guaros de Lara in Game 5 of the championship series. As well as being the club’s second consecutive title, it was also a fourth in five years and the Marinos are starting to put a dominant grip on Venezuelan Basketball.

During the game Marinos de Anzoategui dished out almost double the assists of Guaros, providing 17 scoring passes compared to 9 from the hosts. Indeed, the visitors were organized in attack from the start and through the first period managed to open a 16-21 lead that was carried through the opening break. In the second stanza Marinos continued to apply the pressure and the Lara based home team struggled to keep up. A 15-18 second made it 31-39 through the midway rest. Guaros finally switched up a gear in the third quarter and poured in 28 points while holding Anzoategui to 20, turning the game around to make it 59-59. With the scoreboard locked it was any teams’ game, but it was the visitors who took the initiative and used a 22-26 run in the fourth act to secure the win and the LPB championship.

Jose Vargas was hot for Marinos de Anzoategui with 23 points and 6 rebounds, while Gregory Vargas had a strong all-round showing of 18 points, 7 boards, and 6 assists. Aaron Harper added 15 points to the winning cause and Garrett Siler provided 10 points.

Tu Holloway was in prime scoring form as he plundered 28 points in the losing effort. Gregory Echenique had the only double-double of the contest with 23 points and 10 rebounds for Guaros, while Dewarick Spencer scored 11 points and Rafael Gueara hit 10 points.