Pilipinas Aguilas leaned on a collective effort to escape University of Santo Tomas in double-overtime, 95-86, and move within one win of clinching the inaugural Women’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Invitational title, Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
With the scores locked at 86 with less than four minutes remaining in the second overtime, Trina Guytingco, Mar Prado, Chack Cabinbin, and Cheska Apag joined hands in a 9-0 finishing kick that took the air out of what had been a thrilling Game 1 contest.
The quartet, along with Alexis Pana, tightened the screws on defense and shut down the Growling Tigresses in the final 3:56. They held their opponents scoreless to seal the opening game of the finals series in the tournament backed by Manny Pacquiao, Senator Francis Tolentino, and the MPBL Partylist.
(C) WMPBL
Elaine Etang stepped up in the clutch as well for Pilipinas Aguilas, calmly sinking two free throws to tie the game at 74-all in regulation and send it to overtime. She later drilled a go-ahead triple in the first extra period for an 83-80 lead, only for Kent Pastrana to call bank and answer with a buzzer-beating three, forcing a second overtime.
“First of all, I’m really, really proud of our girls. We were down big at the start of the game—11-2, I think. Maybe it was finals jitters, or maybe UST just played really well to start the game. But we stayed composed,” said interim Aguilas head coach Paolo Layug after the close win.
“Actually, I think the biggest thing for me was that we were able to recover even after Kent Pastrana’s game-tying buzzer-beater at the end of the first overtime. A lot of teams could’ve been deflated after a shot like that, but our team responded really well in the second overtime,” he added.
The Aguilas will look to close out the series in Game 2 on Sunday at 6:00 PM at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, while UST is determined to battle back and force a deciding Game 3, which is still scheduled at NAS on April 23.
Prado tallied a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds, adding four assists and three steals, though she also committed eight turnovers. Pana matched her output with 19 points of her own, along with eight rebounds, six assists, two steals, and a block.
Etang, who is still with Adamson University, chipped in 16 points, four assists, and three boards, while Cabinbin contributed 10 points, five assists, and three steals in the emphatic win for Pilipinas Aguilas in the tournament backed by sponsors Uratex, Discovery Suites, Red Dynasty, Gotobox, Gerry’s Grill, Prettiest, Team Graphitee, Evo Performance Helmets, Ryzen Helmets, Katinko, Dorayd, Sogo Hotel, Global Bosny Manufacturing, and Bavin.
(C) WMPBL
On the other side, Pastrana paced UST with 23 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals. However, the Growling Tigresses star was unable to finish the match after fouling out with 1:46 left in the second overtime, following a reach-in foul on Prado.
Team captain Eka Soriano added 20 points and five rebounds but also committed nine turnovers. Meanwhile, rookie Gin Relliquette contributed 16 points, six rebounds, three assists, and four steals in the heartbreaking defeat.
The Scores:
Pilipinas Aguilas 95 – Prado 19, Pana 19, Etang 16, Cabinbin 10, Apag 8, Cac 6, Adeshina 6, Guytingco 5, Omopia 4, Limbago 2, Ramos 0,
UST 86 – Pastrana 23, Soriano 20, Relliquette 17, Maglupay 9, Onianwa 6, Bron 5, Sierba 3, Ambos 2, Danganan 1, Tacatac 0, Pescador 0, Pineda 0
Quarterscores: 16-17, 30-36, 59-56, 74-74, 83-83, 95-86.
