ALLAN Laurenaria was the definition of clutch for Jose Rizal University, drilling the go-ahead basket with a second left to lift the Heavy Bombers to a 72-70 win over the Perpetual Altas on Tuesday at the Filoil Center in San Juan.
Laurenaria secured the offensive rebound off a Lawrence Mangubat miss to give the Heavy Bombers the lead after an LA Casinilio three tied the game at 70 as JRU finished the crossover phase with the best record in the league at 7-2.
He was also key in sending the game into overtime, finding Chris Hubilla with a nice pass to save the Heavy Bombers from the upset.
"All credit to Perpetual. They've very disciplined. Grabe, hirap na hirap kami pumuntos," Nani Epondulan said.
"It all starts on defense. Hirap nga kami on offense e, di kami maka-execute e and that's where nakakakuha kami ng stops at easy two points na hindi na namin kailangan tumawag ng plays," he said.
The Heavy Bombers were trailing almost the entire game, and was even down by seven, 62-55, with a minute and 43 seconds left in the game after an Angelo Gelsano three.
But Laurenaria joined forces with Hubilla and Lawrence Mangubat in that late comeback in regulation which ended with the three combining in the overtime sending play as Mangubat found Laurenaria who then dropped it off in the last second to Hubilla for the tie.
The extra five minutes were just as tense, with both teams buckling down on defense. A three pointer by LA Casinilio tied the game at 70 with 19 seconds left but that only set the stage for Laurenaria's heroics.
With all eyes on Mangubat who went short on a tightly contested jumper, Laurenaria swooped in to hit the game-winning basket as Mark Gojo Cruz's desperation three went way off.
His heroics salvaged his best offensive game of the season as he finished with 20 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists. Hubilla had a monster double-double of 15 points and 17 rebounds.
It was a heartbreaking loss for Perpetual who dropped to 2-7 entering the final phase of the NCAA elimination round. Gelsano paced the Altas with 18 points and nine boards while Aries Borja added 16 but it wasn't enough as they dropped their sixth consecutive game.
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