By Ricky Manliguis
MANILA— Perpetual Help strengthened its bid for a Final four
slot, riding on the shoulders of Gab Dagangon and MVP candidate Pronce Eze in
overtime as it overcame Letran, 88-82, in the first game of Thursday’s
NCAA Season 93 men’s basketball action at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San
Juan City.
Dagangon and Eze pulled off eight of the Altas’13 extra session points to fend off a stubborn chase by the Knights for its back-to-back victories and a 4-6 record, just behind their victims at 5-5.
The Las Piñas-based squad le by three, 75-72, with 14.2 seconds left, but Bong Quinto fired the stepback trifecta to send the game into overtime.
The Altas, however, were the better team in added time as Dagangon and Eze unloaded three straight jumpers for an 84-78 cushion, time down to just 40 seconds.
Letran had the lead trimmed down to 82-85, but the Altas scored three free throws for the final count.
Eze had a field day of sorts against the smaller Letran frontline, issuing monster numbers of 21 points and 19 rebounds on 7-of-11 field goals with two blocked shots in 40 minutes of action.
Dagangon also had 21 markers, while GJ Ylagan and AJ Coronel combined for 28 markers for Perpetual.
JP Clavo finished with 21 points with seven boards for the Knights, which actually dominated the rebounding department (52-41) and had 39 bench points as compared to Perpetual’s 27.
Quinto cashed in 15 markers before picking up his fifth and last foul in the 1:43 mark of OT. Rey Nambatac was the other double-digit scorer also with 15.
The Scores:
Perpetual Help 88—Dagangon 21, Eze 21, Ylagan 18, Coronel 10, Pido 9, Cabiltes 4, Hao 3, Yuhico 2, Mangalino 0, Sadiwa 0, Clemente 0, Lucente 0, Tamayo 0.
Letran 82—Calvo 21, Quinto 15, Nambatac 15, Vacaro 9, Balanza 8, Taladua 7, Bernabe 3, Mandreza 2, Gedaria 2, Pamulaklakin 0, Balagasay 0, De Villa 0, Caralipio 0, Pascual 0.
Quarterscores: 18-12, 32-33, 57-52, 75-all, 88-82 (OT).
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