MANILA, Philippines – Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) did just enough to pull out a tough 65-62 victory over the woeful De La Salle-College of St. Benilde (CSBO in their penultimate game of the NCAA Season 92 men's basketball tournament Tuesday at the Arena in San Juan.
Two free throws by Jorem Morada in the final 17.1 seconds gave the Generals enough of a cushion, as CSB's Carlo Young misfired on a potential game-tying three-pointer in the dying seconds.
The Generals – who were playing without the suspended Sydney Onwubere and injured captain Francis Munsayac – improved to 6-11 in the tournament ahead of their season-ending game versus dethroned champion Colegio de San Juan de Letran.
"Actually, na-pressure kami," admitted EAC coach Ariel Sison after the game. "What I keep on telling them is hindi pwede manalo ang Benilde, lalo na 'pag sa atin pa. Hindi tayo ang pwedeng magbigay ng first win ng Benilde."
"So siguro, medyo na-pressure, kaya ganoon. Tapos kulang ka pa kami. Pero wala kaming ina-underestimate na kalaban. It just so happened na medyo pressured lang kasi kinakabahan kami na baka kami ang unang mag-bigay ng win," he added.
(We were pressured. What I kept on telling them is that we cannot let Benilde get its first win against us. So maybe, the players got a little pressured. Plus we were short-handed. That's why this is how the game played out.)
The Generals led by as much as nine points, 62-53, with just 2:14 to go off two free throws by Hamadou Laminou, but a late barrage by Christian Fajarito allowed the Blazers to make it a one-point game, 62-63, with still 27.1 seconds left to play.
Fajarito, CSB's promising sophomore big man, came through with two free throws, then stole the ball off Laminou for a breakaway lay-up that made it a one-point game and forced Sison to call a timeout.
But Morada was able to fish a foul against Yankie Haruna and coolly make both charities. Though the Blazers still had enough time to get a shot off, Young's three-pointer was way off mark and time ran out on CSB's comeback.
"Yun ang problem namin – lumamang kami ng seven points, pero akala namin, tapos na ang game," said Sison. "Sabi ko, hindi pwedeng ganoon talaga. Kailangan, solid hanggang mag-buzzer."
(That's our problem. We went up by seven points and we thought the game was over. I told them that cannot be the case. We have to play solidly until the final buzzer.)
Morada finished with 18 points and four assists, while Laminou added 12 points, six boards, and five dimes for the Generals. With Onwubere out, Jeric Diego and Jervin Guzman made the most of their minutes and combined for 18 points and 10 boards.
Young finished with 14 points, while Clement Leutcheu had a double-double of 12 points and 12 boards for the Blazers. CSB had a massive 40-29 advantage on the boards, but shot only 35.94% from the field while allowing the Generals to convert 47.06% of their own attempts.
CSB has one last chance to avoid a winless season on Friday when it plays Lyceum of the Philippines University.
The scores:
CSB 62 – Young 14, Leutcheu 12, Dixon 10, Fajarito 8, Haruna 7, Suarez 4, Domingo 3, Castor 2, Belgica 2, Pasamante 0, Pajarillaga 0, Saavedra 0
Quarter scores: 15-16, 33-29, 49-42, 65-62
For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.
0 comments :
Post a Comment