ARELLANO completed a masterful comeback in the second half to stun Perpetual 76-72 in the final game day of the first round of the NCAA Season 94 on Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Arena.
Trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half, the Chiefs embarked on a furious rally behind Maui Serajosef and Levi dela Cruz to stun the Altas who were still playing without Edgar Charcos.
Dela Cruz drained two critical three pointers late before Serajosef scored the go-ahead basket with one minute and 13 seconds left to put the Chiefs ahead for good.
The Altas had one last chance to send the game into overtime but the Chiefs forced Jielo Razon to turn the ball over to complete the comeback.
"Siyempre, sobrang saya. Coming off that 50-point game ni Bolick, down yung mga players at yung pride nila na down. Pero kailangan nilang bumawi," said Arellano coach Jerry Codinera.
"It's just normal sa amin. You have to be precise kasi si coach Frankie is a very good coach. We had to take away their strength who is Prince Eze," said Arellano head coach Jerry Codinera who improved to 4-5 to end the first round.
"I was hoping na we could get more than three wins. Pero okay na rin because this
will make us motivated for the second round," he added.
Kraniel Villoria led the way for the Chiefs with 15 points as Serajosef added 14. Dela Cruz chipped in 12 points and three steals as Archie Concepcion added 10 points and seven boards.
Eze led the way for the Altas with 25 points and 22 rebounds, but that wasn't enough as they dropped their second straight game, finishing the first round at fifth place with a 5-4 record.
The scores:
ARELLANO 76 -- Villoria 15, Sera Josef 14, Dela Cruz 12, Concepcion 10, Canete 9, Alban 8, Dela Torre 6, Codinera 2, Alcoriza 0, Ongolo Ongolo 0, Sacramento 0, Santos 0, Segura 0.
PERPETUAL 72 -- Eze 22, Coronel 12, Aurin 10, Peralta 10, Cuevas 8,Canoy 5, Razon 4, Pedrosa 1, Mangalino 0, Tamayo 0.
Quarters: 8-19, 28-38, 51-53, 76-72.
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