San Sebastian Stags vs EAC Generals

San Sebastian College recovered in time to fend off Emilio Aguinaldo College, 77-70, and tie reigning champion San Beda for the lead again in the 87th NCAA men's basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Stags nearly squandered a 21-point lead as the Generals moved within one point with over two minutes left in the contest. But Ronald Pascual hit a triple and scored on a drive and Calvin Abueva canned three charities at endgame to clinch the victory, their sixth straight.

Pascual made nine of his game-high 19 points in the fourth he spiked with a triple and a go-ahead slam down the stretch while Abueva barreled his way to 17 points, including eight in the last period that kept the Stags in step with the Red Lions.

Ian Sangalang, the other member of SSC's prolific troika, took charge in the first half and went on to finish with 15 points and 10 rebounds plus two blocks.

"We struggled a bit because we haven't really practiced for nine days because we can't use our gym due to continuous rain. So we just contented ourselves with the shoot-a-round and tape viewing," said SSC coach Topex Robinson.

The Stags led by as many as 21 points late in the first half but Generals refused to give up and fought back in the fourth quarter.

Down 52-63 midway in the last period, EAC went to Joshua Torralba, Jan Jamon and Emilian Vergas, who combined for a 14-4 attack that brought the Taft-based cagers within, 66-67, with 2.19 minutes left in the contest.

But Pascual buried a triple and jammed in a basket in transition after a steal before Abueva scored three free throws to frustrate the Generals.

EAC captain Claude Cubo, Torralba and Jamon each had 16 points but failed to hit the shots that mattered in the end as the Generals fell to their fourth defeat against two wins

Abueva, who leads the league in the MVP race, actually fell short by one rebound for a fifth straight double-double game. He also turned the ball over seven times, enabling the Generals to bounce back into the game in the fourth. – Joey Villar

Boxscores

San Sebastian 77 - Pascual 19, Abueva 17, Sangalang 15, del Rio 10, dela Cruz 6, Maiquez 6, Miranda 2, Balucanag 2, Vitug 0, Magno 0, Grilli 0, Ferrer 0, Antipuesto 0

EAC 70 - Torralba 16, Jamon 16, Vargas 16, King 9, Vargas 6, Chiong 3, Yaya 2, Diolanto 2, Paguia 0, Morada 0, Sanchez 0

Quarterscores: 28-13; 43-26; 58-46; 77-70