KENT Salado and the rest of Arellano finally conjured a victory in the NCAA Season 95 seniors basketball tournament, taking down Emilio Aguinaldo College, 86-77, Friday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
The cat-quick guard churned out a double-double with 24 points and 11 assists, to go with four rebounds, and one steal to hand the Chiefs their first win in four outings.
Salado's 18 points allowed Arellano to seize control of the game early, grabbing a 29-15 first-quarter lead and extended the lead to as many as 16.
"Medyo nabawasan ng konti (yung tinik sa dibdib)," said coach Cholo Martin. "It's still a long way, we can still improve and I've been teling them that if we want something, we have to work hard. Di pwede mag-give up kami."
But it wasn't all Salado, with Archie Concepcion adding 14 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks, Dariel Bayla contributing a double-double with his 11 points and 13 boards, and Gelo Sablan dishing out 10 points and five rebounds, two of which were big offensive boards that ended EAC's late rally.
The Generals were still knocking on the Chiefs' door in the final two minutes as JP Maguliano cut the lead down to 10, 79-69, but baskets from Salado and Marlon Espiritu, as well as a booming left wing trey from Concepcion iced the game, 85-71, with 35 seconds remaining.
EAC bowed to its third straight defeat to drop to 1-4.
Maguliano carried the Generals with 26 points and 14 rebounds, as Adrian de Guzman got 12 points and three boards.
The Scores:
ARELLANO 86 -- Salado 24, Concepcion 14, Bayla 11, Sablan 10, Espiritu 8, Arana 5, Oliva 5, Alcoriza 3, Santos 2, Gayosa 2, Talampas 2, Segura 0, Sunga 0, De Guzman 0.
EAC 77 -- Maguliano 26, De Guzman 12, Mendoza 9, Taywan 8, Gonzales 8, Gurtiza 6, Luciano 6, Corilla 2, Martin 0, Tampoc 0, Dayrit 0, Cadua 0, Boffa 0.
Quarters: 29-15, 47-36, 59-50, 86-77.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph