ALVIN Reyes buried a three-pointer with only a second left to lift Philippine Christian University-Dasmariñas to a nail-biting 78-76 win over top seed Olivarez College and on the brink of a first-ever crown in the UCAL-PGFlex Linoleum Cup on Thursday at the Paco Arena in Manila.
Almost given up for dead after falling behind by 76-71 with a little over two minutes left, the PCU-D Dolphins suddenly caught fire, coming through with a blazing 7-0 finish capped by a Reyes 3-point shot to snatch the win in the opener of their best-of-three title series.
The Dolphins can raise their first championship trophy since joining the league in Season 2 with another win on Monday, April 7. If necessary, Game 3 is set on April 10.
The fold-up was a huge disappointment for the Sea Lions, who raced to an early 9-0 lead on the way to building several twin-digits leads along the way only to lose steam in the crunch – no thanks to PCU’s grit and resilience.
Reyes steps up
Reyes tallied 12 points to go with 3 rebounds and 1 assist in 25 minutes of action, enough to make up for a measly 9-point show of top gunner Joshua Diño.
With Diño struggling offensively in the face of Olivarez’s pesky defense, John Carl Catayong and Ram Mesqueriola picked up the scoring cudgels, finishing with 21 and 14 points, respectively.
Overall, it was PCU’s offense that made the difference, posting an impressive 41 percent shooting from the field, making 32 of 78 tries, compared to 39 (29-74) for the Sea Lions who erected a 14-point lead early in the second quarter.
Meantime, the league, backed by Akari, CafeFrance, Advance Solutions Inc., Smart Sports, Spalding, Team Rebel Sports, Quintana Sports, Crane Faucet, Hapee Toothpaste, Jiang Nan Restaurant, Vital, Top Flite Academy, Maruyama, and Gerry’s Grill, will honor individual players who made this year’s season truly a memorable one.
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