The Filipino Canadian Basketball League of Yukon (FCBLY) continued its 13th playoff season this Saturday and Sunday at the Canada Games Centre. The FCBLY is resuming the season after the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered play in March.

Since they’ve been allowed to resume, the basketball action has been non-stop. Last week, Domino’s Pizza secured the Under 35 title by besting Elias Dental 80-69 in the decisive game of the best-of-three championship series.

This weekend saw two games played across as many divisions. The Over 35’s got the weekend slate started with a game between second-seeded North 60 Petro versus third-seed Wolfpack Basketball in semifinal action.

There had been a long layoff between Over 35 games. On the first day of November, Whitehorse Subaru took the court against Tim Hortons. Subaru won that game 104-61.

North 60 Petro got off to a strong start and maintained the lead throughout to take the game 74-54.

In the first quarter, neither team could create separation from the other. North 60 Petro made it a point to get into the heart of the Wolfpack’s two-one-two zone defence. They did all their scoring from within the three-point arc, hitting floaters and lay-ups and getting to the foul line.

Wolfpack, also contending with a two-one-two defensive scheme, worked the ball around the perimeter and kept the score close to even by draining threes.

By the time the buzzer sounded to end the first no team managed to sway the momentum in their favour.

North 60 Petro began to turn the tide in its direction come the second stanza. By controlling the glass, they were able to get out in transition for uncontested buckets. On the offensive end, they had strong box-outs to secure offensive rebounds for put-backs or to reset their plays.

The Wolfpack kept to their game plan and continued to fire from three, but they weren’t falling at the rate they were in the first half.

In the second half, North 60 Petro kept growing its advantage and did not look back from there as they secured the win by 20 points.

North 60 Petro had two players in double-digits scoring. John Madrigal led all scores, potting 31 points. Dustin Heffner chipped in with 17.

Jicky Cabiso and Sean Munro had 15 apiece for the Wolfpack and Neil Talsma added 13.

Because they were the lower seed, Wolfpack would have needed to beat North 60 Petro twice to earn a berth in the finals.

The Over 35 championship series is now set. Whitehorse Subaru will take on North 60 Petro in a best-of-three series beginning on Sunday at the Canada Games Centre.

MPM holds off Air North Jets

The Under 15’s battled it out in an entertaining contest. The game was the first of a best-of-three series to determine the victor of the division.

In a game of evenly matched teams, MPM was able to come out on top downing the Jets 44-40.

During the first quarter, both teams put on a masterful display of ball movement. The ball hummed around the outside of the arc as the teams tried to find openings to attack the basket.

Each side did find success, as they managed to break the man-to-man defences and get into the paint. Once they made the drive, they either got right to the basket or found cutting teammates who were able to take an even more open shot.

At the end of the first, neither side was able to create and distance and that theme continued throughout the game.

In the second frame, the baskets were falling for both sides. When one team would pull ahead and appear to gain some momentum, the other side would come roaring back with a mini-run of its own.

Both teams were also able to ramp up their defence and were able to get out in transition for easy hoops. It was a very entertaining game.

With such a small margin of victory, the fans who attended, safely spaced and wearing masks, will be in for a treat when the second game of the series is played.

Quinn Manahan led MPM with 13 points. Jonathan Aine netted eight and Pier Deleon chipped in seven.

Miguel Portea led all scorers with 20. Isiah Cabiso had eight and Jeff Rumbaoa, seven for the Air North Jets.