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| The Abra Solid North Weavers celebrate their sweep of the Quezon Huskers in the National Finals. MPBL |
LUCENA--Abra picked up from where John Oduba left off by sizzling in overtime to complete a sweep of the MPBL National Finals against Quezon with a 94-85 Game 3 win in front of more than 7,000 fans at the Quezon Convention Center.
Oduba saved the day for the Weavers as he scored the game-tying layup that eventually forced overtime.
After a back-and-forth affair to start the extension, they used a 13-2 run late in the extra five minutes to pull away.
In total, Abra scored 19 points in overtime against Quezon, including 15 in the final three minutes.
The Weavers capped the most dominant single-season performance in any Philippine professional league by winning their 36th consecutive game, also the longest winning streak in Philippine pro basketball history.
They finished the season 38-1, the lone defeat coming at the expense of the Pasay Voyagers in their third game this year.
"Naging wake-up call sa amin yun dahil sinabi ko sa kanila, hindi pwedeng mag-relax at maging complacent. I-treat namin yung every game as a knockout game. Ayun yung sukatan ng mga players kaya namin nakuha yung 36 straight wins," coach Yong Garcia told Dugout Philippines about the lessons learned from that loss to Pasay.
Dave Ildefonso, who was named regular-season MVP before the start of Game 3, played his best scoring performance in the championship series, leading Abra with 23 points alongside 10 rebounds, three assists, and one steal.
Jason Brickman, who was named finals MVP after the title clincher, added 22 points, two rebounds, five assists, and one steal.
Encho Serrano bounced back from two so-so performances at home and fired 21 points, nine rebounds, two assists, and one steal as he completed a personal three-peat, winning back-to-back MPBL titles with the Pampanga Giant Lanterns before jumping to the Weavers.
In his comeback game from an ankle injury, Judel Fuentes fired 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 from threes, three rebounds, and one assist.
However, it was not enough in the end as Quezon blew its chances to force a Game 4 in the best-of-five series.
The team was ahead, 66-56, with 7:32 left in regulation and 70-61 with 4:48 to play in the fourth quarter before Abra stormed back.
Vince Magbuhos and Ximone Sandagon kept the Weavers in it as they missed crucial free throws down the stretch that could have given the Huskers more breathing room, setting up Oduba's heroics.
For the second straight year, Quezon was swept in the national finals.
