By Ivan Saldajeno
SAN JUAN, MM--In one juncture of Game 2 of the UAAP juniors basketball finals, Aljun Melecio fired a triple to effectively grant a schoolmate's wish of having him as her partner for their graduation ball.
It turned out, that was Melecio's only made three of the game out of nine attempts, signifying a sluggish game from him, but he got help from his fellow Junior Archers.
La Salle-Zobel put to an end NSNU's unbeaten run with a 71-60 victory at the FilOil Flying V Centre on Friday.
Melecio, who was formally named the MVP of the season before tip-off, only tallied 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting overall for the Junior Archers, but he made up for it by playing facilitator, which his teammates converted to positive outputs.
Marco Sario provided the crucial spark in La Salle-Zobel's third quarter storm as he fired back-to-back triples to help the team extend its lead to as high as 11.
MR Romero also provided help for the Junior Archers as he nailed pivotal jumpers to keep the Bullpups at bay.
Behind John Lloyd Clemente, NSNU actually still put up a fight late in the third and eventually cut the lead to as low as three early in the fourth.
But La Salle-Zobel's defense became steadfast later in the final frame, and a Miguel Fortuna steal-and-score turned out to be the dagger to snap NSNU's 15-game winning streak and withhold the team from completing a 16-0 sweep of the entire season.
Melecio finished with nine assists along with four rebounds as Sario, who had 16 markers, and Romero, who contributed 14, were the primary recipients of the skipper's passes.
Clemente had 25 points and six rebounds, while fellow Mythical Team member Justine Baltazar chipped in 15 points, 20 rebounds, two assists, and one block for NSNU, which still holds a virtual 2-1 lead in the finals due to the thrice-to-beat advantage it got after going 14-0 in the eliminations.
Game 3 is scheduled next Friday at the said venue.
Box Scores:
La Salle-Zobel 71-Sario 16, Melecio 14, Romero 14, Fortuna 8, Mariano 6, Sobrevega 5, Tongco 4, Paraiso 2, Cabarrus 2, Salafranca 0
NSNU 60-Clemente 25, Baltazar 15, Amsali 7, Peñano 4, Atienza 2, Sarip 2, Jugar 1, Manalang 0, Tolentino 0, Callejo 0
Quarterscores: 14-17, 30-30, 57-51, 71-60
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