The Leones eliminate the Cariduros in a seventh match to advance to the BSN semifinals

Ponce.- Jezreel de Jesús scored 32 points and the Leones de Ponce advanced to the semifinals of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) by beating the Cariduros de Fajardo 90-77 in a seventh and decisive match against a full house at the Juan “Pachín” Auditorium. Vicens.

The Lions will face the Bayamón Cowboys starting Monday in a duel between the most winning franchises in the history of the league for the ticket to the final. Bayamón is the historical leader with 15 titles, followed by Ponce with 14, tied with Atléticos de San Germán.

The first match will be at the Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum.

Ponce complied with defending his court four times to win the hard-fought series. In addition, the leader of the Ciudad Señorial quintet Wilhelmus Caanen won the duel of brothers against Allans Colón, coach of the Cariduros.

It was also a revenge for the Lions for the 2019 final, won by the franchise that was in Aguada that year.

Anunwa Omot finished with 19 points, while Cameron Oliver had a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds. Mike Rosario contributed 11 valuable points coming off the bench.

Despite making six errors, the Cariduros won the first quarter 18-17 with nine points and three assists from Emmanuel Andújar. The Leones did not have the best aim in the first minutes of the important match, driving the fans to despair when they saw the scoreboard 18-12 in favor of the visitors.

Defensive stops turned into a basket by Oliver and a triple by De Jesús to close the scoring.

The Lions captain continued to heat up in the second period, scoring nine of his 17 points in the first half as the Lions went into halftime up 43-38.

To avoid the fatigue of his starters, Colón brought in Kevin Maura, Iván Gandía and Arnaldo Toro from the bench. A triple by Maura took off again to the Cariduros 31-26. Ponce responded with a 13-4 run, with hat-tricks by Omot, De Jesús and Rosario, to win the first half in a festive atmosphere in the Pachín stands. Fajardo missed Terrence Jones, who only had two points in 20 minutes.

In the middle of the second quarter, veteran point guard Carlos Rivera headed to the locker room after being substituted with apparent discomfort.

De Jesús, Rosario and Omot carried Ponce’s offense in the third period. They hit 21 of the long-haired 24 points in the period, with four triples, to achieve a double-digit lead 69-56 against a Cariduros starting team that had no answer. The Leones trailed by as much as 18 points but Fajardo responded with six points in the last minute to stop the bleeding.

In the middle of the bullfight, Rivera returned from the dressing room to join the ranks of the locals without exhibiting any pain in his body.

Fajardo was able to lower the deficit to 9 points (82-71) with a hat-trick by Víctor Rudd, but the team from the east of the island found themselves without gas and without time to complete the comeback, ending their season in the first round of the postseason .

For the Cariduros, Andújar finished with 17 points. Holland and Alex Abreu finished with 15 points each. Jones, who averaged 32 points in six series games, was not a factor with just 10 points.

Fajardo also entered the sudden death challenge averaging 104 points per game.