After his clutch performance fell short last Tuesday against the Letran Knights, Renzo Navarro made sure that it wouldn’t go to waste this time around, carrying the San Sebastian College-Recoletos Golden Stags past the Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals, 75-73, Friday afternoon at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
“I imagined na lahat ng games namin close pero minsan kulang sa dulo. This time, buti naman, kami naman ang nanalo,” said second-year San Sebastian head coach Egay Macaraya.
The win evened San Sebastian’s record to 4-4 slate, three wins better than their 1-8 first round finish last season.
“The good thing about this is sana tuloy-tuloy na,” he added. “Okay na this year 4-4 kami compared to isa lang last season.”
And Navarro was able to muster a clutch performance, scoring all five of his points in the last minute of the contest.
Up by just two points, 69-67, with 52 ticks left, Ryan Costelo found Navarro for a corner triple to extend the Stags’ cushion to two possessions. A basket by Francis Munsayac and a stop by Juju Bautista gave EAC a chance to cut the lead to just a solitary point with 32.6 second remaining. However, the Filipino-American split his charities, while Navarro was able to swoop in for a reverse lay-up 19 seconds later.
The Generals still had a chance to force overtime.
A quick triple by Jerome Garcia answered Navarro’s basket and was followed by a split on the stripe by Allyn Bulanadi. Jervin Guzman though missed a fader as time expired to seal the win for San Sebastian.
Ryan Costelo scored 10 of his 11 points in the final frame, while RK Ilagan added 12 markers. And San Sebastian needed everything it can get as leading scorer Michael Calisaan was ejected with 1:14 left in the third frame after being called for his second unsportsmanlike foul.
“Well sa totoo lang, wala akong choice especially wala na yung isang guy na scumoscore so I relied on my point guards,” said Macaraya as Calisaan finished with 19 points. “Buti na lang Ryan performed at pumasok din yung shots ni Renzo.”
San Sebastian led by as many as seven points, 65-58, after a basket by Costelo at the 3:49 mark of the final frame.
After finishing with just three total field goals in the last two games, Sidney Onwubere bounced back, finishing wiht 22 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, and five blocks. Munsayac and Guzman added 16 and 10 points respectively.
The Stags will host the JRU Heavy Bombers in their final game of the round on Thursday, August 24. EAC, on the other hand, face the Perpetual Altas on Tuesday, August 22, at 4:00pm.
The Scores:
SSC-R 75 – Calisaan 19, Ilagan 12, Costelo 11, Calma 10, Gayosa 5, Navarro 5, Are 4, David 2, Baetiong 2, Mercado 2, Valdez 2, Bulanadi 1, Quipse 0, Capobres 0
EAC 73 – Onwubere 22, Munsayac 16, Guzman 10, Garcia 7, Mendoza I 6, Diego 4, Bugarin 4, Bautista 3, Pascua 1, Mendoza J 0, Corilla 0, Neri 0
Quarterscores: 17-16, 40-37, 50-53, 75-73
