IN a frantic back-and-forth, it was Emilio Aguinaldo College who had plenty left of gas left in the tank late.
The Generals took their second straight win in the NCAA Season 102 men's basketball tournament at the expense of the struggling LPU Pirates, 89-79, on Friday at the Filoil Ecooil Center in San Juan.
EJ Castillo carried the fight for the Generals for most part of the game before his veterans in Wilmar Oftana, Jude Bagay and MJ Raymundo took it home, leading a 16-3 closeout run to finish off the Pirates.
"We always tell our boys that competition here in the NCAA is very tough. Who's gonna take the big shots, who's gonna make the stops, yun ang mananalo," EAC head coach Jerson Cabiltes said.
"Luckily for us we made some big shots. Jude was able to attack. And then we forced turnovers, we had fastbreak points towards the end. Sa dulo we were able to make stops, at least nakuha namin yung panalo," he added.
Castillo finished with 23 points as powered the Generals offense in the face of a big LPU rally in the third and early in the fourth, setting the carpet for that big finish from his teammates.
Even more impressive, the sophomore guard shot 9-of-14 from the field this time after shooting a horrific 26 percent clip in his previous four games.
"Nag-scout kami, ginigisa talaga kami ni coach e kapag gigil kami tumira. Sinasabi niya samin na yung tira namin, itira namin yun pero wag lang siyang forced," Castillo said.
Oftana added 13, Bagay chipped in 12 while MJ Raymundo had nine and the trio combined for 10 of their final 16 points to finally sink the Pirates.
Harvae Raymundo added 10 assists to go along nine points for the now 2-3 Generals.
It was a tough loss for the Pirates who saw spurts of individual brilliance from Matthew Rubico and Roger Ondoa, but couldn't quite put it together for a win.
Rubico finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds while Ondoa added 20 points, seven rebounds and two steals but unfortunately it wasn't enough to salvage the win as the Pirates dropped to 1-4.
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