NCAA squad Perpetual Help Altas used a game-long dominating performance in blowing out the USJR Jaguars in a 77-59 win and clinch their second straight win in the ongoing FilOil tournament held at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City, Saturday afternoon.
From the get-go, the Altas pounced on the seemingly fatigued Jaguars, who played their fourth game in six days. The duo of Chris Elopre and Gabriel Daganon made the opening quarter damage offensively that helped Perpetual build an early lead. On the other hand, the Jaguars had a hard time finding their shots to fall down with consistency as their starters struggled, following their superb shooting in their yesterday’s win over EAC.
In the second period, Perpetual built a double-digit lead at 37-24 capped in the blistering quarter capped by an and-one play by Elopre. In the last minutes of the frame, the Jaguars relied on their defense as they showed good signs of life to start off their offense. They managed to limit Perpetual to four points in the last four minutes of the first half, settling for a full-court pressure defense while denying the Altas’ big men of touches down low. Criss Galvez and Miguel Gastador both drained in a basket to slice the deficit down to single digits at the end of the game’s first 20 minutes.
In the third, the Altas maintained their lead with their frontcourt doing the scoring while also playing good defense on the other end. A putback by Kevin Oliveria with 5:38 left in the third gave Perpetual their largest lead of the quarter at 49-32. Afterwhich, USJR went on a mini rally as they built a 7-0 run including fast break layups from Villafranca and RJ Dinolan. Off a timeout, Perpetual managed to restore their double-digit advantage with Bright Akhuetie leading the charge with his presence underneath. Perpetual had a dozen point lead after the quarter, 55-43.
The Jaguars’ James Regalado attempted to jumpstart USJR’s fourth quarter run as he scored his team’s first five points in two minutes including a triple. However, Akhuetie and the rest of the Altas remained poised to close it out as the hustle points went the way of Perpetual. Akhuetie made a huge one-handed uncontested fastbreak jam with 5 minutes to go in the game that put the finishing touches over their gassed Cebuano-based opponent. The Jaguars had a silent three point production in the game’s last 4 ½ minutes.
UPHSD shot 52% from two-point territory compared to USJR’s 34%. In addition, they outrebounded the Jaguars, 49-36.
Perpetual looks to extend its win streak against Emilio Aguinaldo College on Friday 1:30pm, May 8 while USJR continues its tournament against CSB in their next assignment on Wednesday.
The scores:
UPHSD(77) – Akhuetie 19, Elorpe 15, Dagangon 12, Ylagan 12, Oliveria 10, Eze 3, Dizon 2, Gallardo 2, Pido 2, Coronel 0, Tamayo 0, Sadiwa 0, Cabiltes 0
USJR(59) – Regalado 11, Suano 11, Galvez 8, Bayhonan 7, Villafranca 6, Villarias 4, labares 3, Gastador 2, Nzuzi 2, Navarra 2, Dinolan 2, Catipay 1, Lajato 0
| TEAM | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH |
| UPHSD (A, 2-0) | 20 | 38 | 55 | 77 |
| USJ-R (A, 1-3) | 12 | 29 | 43 | 59 |
