By Ricky Manliguis
La
Consolacion College Manila banked on a torrid fourth-quarter spurt behind the
exploits of Christian Alonzo and Kenneth Glariana to outlast ICCT Colleges,
81-75, and extend the Inter-Scholastic Athletic Association (ISAA) Season 14
seniors basketball finals to a sudden-death Game 3 Saturday at the Trinity
University of Asia gym in Quezon City.
Alonzo
connived with Glariana in a telling 20-8 blitz that turned a 54-all
third-quarter stand-off into a 12-point bubble, 74-62, with three minutes left in
the fourth quarter enough to keep its hopes alive with the winner-take-all game
slated on Wednesday, June 7.
The
first-year man Alonzo finished with a game-high 32 points spiked on 10-of-17 shooting
from the field for LCCM. The senior Glariana bounced back from a six-point performance in
Game 1 by cashing in 24 markers.
Jon Aldrick
Arimado’s 18-point performance went for naught for ICCT, which also got 13
markers from Mc Steven Esguerra and 11 apiece from Kurth Mapua and Mark Angelo
Magno.
Game 1 hero
Jun Reign Baculio was limited to nine markers on an anemic 2-of-11 field-goal
outing.
“We were expecting already that ICCT, to be honest, is a team that is very consistent. So in the fourth quarter, I think the player’s conditioning came into play, which is why we were more aggressive in the fourth,” said LCCM coach Kenyon Chee at post-game.
“In the first quarter, they (the players) were very sluggish, maybe a leftover from the first game. But after giving them the chance to believe in themselves again, they were able to respond.”
Chee also expressed
his happiness with the team’s cohesion and chemistry, which he attributed to
the Mendiola-based school’s consistent basketball program.
“Honestly, in
the program of La Consolacion, most of the players were also in the high school
program as well. So when they come to the college, there was not much adjustment,
since they’d been together for five years. They were able to look up to each other and helped each other out,” he added.
In earlier
games, LCCM survived a determined ALIAC squad for a 67-64 victory to snatch the
juniors division crown via a sweep. Lance Daniel Siena and Jeffren Diamonon
churned in 15 points apiece for the Baby Blue Royals, which had to overcome a
four-point deficit in the closing minutes of the match.
Treston
International College then nabbed the bronze medal of the seniors division by
nipping the WCC ATC North Manila Skyhawks, 86-84. John Mark Sicat and Eugene Tan
scored 28 and 24 points, respectively, for the Golden Lions.
THE SCORES:
First Game
(SRS):
TRESTON 86 – Sicat 28, Tan 24, Jose 8, Espiritu 7, Cambi 6, Dela Cruz 5, Sarmiento 3, Santos 3, Abanico 2, Capistrano 0.
WCC ATC 84 – De Guzman 23, Lime 21, Salinel 18, Rivera 5, Cruz 5, Gabriel 4, Briones 3, Yumang 3, Agustin 2, Roco 0, Gonzales 0,
Quarterscores:
25-20, 43-40, 65-all, 86-84.
Second Game
(JRS):
LCCM 67 – Siena 15, Diamonon 15, Aloro 14, Mercado 11, Lapada 6, Samson 6, Lampert 0, Simacon 0, Guadamor 0.
ALIAC 64 – Bulilan 25, Canovas 13, Resara 12, Nierva 6, Mañalac 4, Toledo 2, Sumalinog 2, Lozano 0, Bathan 0.
Quarterscores:
13-10, 29-31, 47-50, 67-64.
Third Game
(SRS):
LCCM 81 – Alonzo
32, Glariana 24, Urmeneta 6, Cerezo 6, Postanes 4, Castillo 4, Cabal 3, Ober 2,
Valencia 0, Trinidad 0, Pineda 0.
ICCT 75—Arimado
18, Esguerra 13, Mapua 11, Magno 11, Baculio 9, Virtucio 6, Santos J. 3, Buban
2, Torres 2, Reyes 0, Soria 0, Rebollido 0.
Quarterscores:
19-16, 40-36, 54-all, 81-75.
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