19 July 2019
By Maxine Louise Lagman
MANILA, Philippines – Colegio de San Juan de Letran pulled off an 82-80 overtime win over Perpetual Help to stretch their win to three in the NCAA Season 95 men’s basketball tournament, Friday at Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.
Bonbon Batiller led Letran with 22 points, two assists, and one rebound, while Ato Ular registered a career-best of 19 points, on top of 13 rebounds and a block.
“A win is a win, but we still need to learn how to close out game,” Letran head coach Bonnie Tan said after the match.
Letran Knights had a four-point advantage coming into the fourth quarter, 70-66, until Edgar Charcos knocked down a corner trey after Ben Adamos split his freebies, tying the match at 70-all. With a few second still left to spare, Balanza failed to secure a three-point attempt that sent the game to overtime.
The game was head to head, until the last seconds of the match. Balanza missed another attempt, luckily, Jeo Ambohot was there for a go-ahead basket for an 81-80 lead, 12.4 ticks to go.
Batiller managed to get another split in the final 4.6 seconds in the overtime game that extended the lead to two. Jielo Razon could have extended it to a second overtime, but his jumper failed to go into the basket, announcing the win for Letran.
Letran now has a 3-1 win-loss record, while Perpetual suffered back-to-back losses to drop to 1-2.
Charcos paced the Altas with a 15-point, 10-assist double-double, on top of eight rebounds, while Tonton Peralta had 14 markers and two boards.
The Scores:
LETRAN 82 – Batiller 22, Ular 19, Muyang 10, Ambohot 9, Balanza 9, Caralipio 5, Sangalang 5, Yu 2, Olivario 1, Mina 0, Reyson 0, Pambid 0, Javillonar 0
PERPETUAL 80 – Charcos 15, Peralta 14, Sese 13, Adamos 12, Aurin 11, Razon 11, Sevilla 2, Egan 2, Lanoy 0, Tamayo 0, Giussani 0, Barasi 0, Cuevas 0
QUARTER SCORES: 11-17, 33-30, 56-48, 70-70, 82-80 (OT)
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