A HEARTBROKEN Emilio Aguinaldo College took care of business and vented its frustrations on Jose Rizal University, 73-66, to end its NCAA Season 100 men’s basketball tournament on a winning note on Friday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.
Denied of a shot at the last Final Four berth by Lyceum's close win over College of St. Benilde earlier in the day, the Generals poured in 29 points after halftime to turn things around and finally jump on the lead at 54-50.
The Generals closed out the season with a 9-9 record, which would've been good enough to secure a playoff for the last Final Four berth had Lyceum lost to the Blazers in the first game.
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Unfortunately, the Pirates eked out an 82-81 win over the Blazers in a game that the entire Emilio Aguinaldo team eagerly watched from the sidelines.
“After the first game, everybody was already crying inside the dugout. And I wasn’t able to huddle properly with regards to our game plan against JRU because I can’t stop the emotions from flowing,” admitted EAC coach Jerson Cabiltes afterwards.
“It was very hard for me to speak during that moment,” added the coach. “So nung halftime I told them we could only lessen the pain if we could win. So in order to lessen the pain, we need to win over JRU.”
That’s what exactly the Generals did as graduating seniors King Gurtiza and Harvey Pagsanjan led the way in scoring with 18 and 17, respectively, while Paolo Bagay also finished in double figures with 11.
Emilio Aguinaldo hasn’t been to the Final Four since entering the NCAA in 2009.
“One thing we have learned today is you can’t rely on other teams or other people for your future. Whether in basketball or in life, you needed to do it on your own,” said Cabiltes. “Kasi kanina nakasandal yung pangarap namin sa CSB.”
The loss sent the Bombers to a 4-14 record and finished last in the 10-man field.
Mart Barrera finished with 18 points, Shawn Argente with 15, and Joshua Guiab had a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Heavy Bombers, who missed the services of suspended head coach Louie Gonzales.
The scores:
EAC (73) - Gurtiza 18, Pagsanjan 17, Bagay 11, Doromal 6, Luciano 6, Lucero 4, Oftana 3, Umpad 3, Jacob 2, Loristo 2, Quinal 1, Ochavo 0, Postanes 0, Angeles 0.
JRU (66) - Barrera 18, Argente 15, Guiab 12, Sarmiento 5, Raymundo 4, De Jesus 4, Lozano 3, Pangilinan 2, De Leon 2, Mosqueda 1, Panapanaan 0, Ramos 0, Ferrer 0, Samontanes 0, Benitez 0.
Quarterscores: 19-19; 25-30; 54-50; 73-66.
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