Late treys lift Altas past Bombers

MANILA, Philippines — Perpetual Help hit three clutch triples as it turned back Jose Rizal U with a 78-72 victory yesterday to grab a share of third with idle Letran in the 94th NCAA seniors basketball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.

Down, 69-72, with two-and-a-half minutes left in the contest, the Altas went to AJ Coronel and Jelo Razon, who delivered with three treys while the rest shut down the Bombers on the other end to seal their second straight win and fourth overall in six outings.

“Those were big shots,” said Perpetual Help coach Frankie Lim, referring to Coronel and Razon’s triples that put the Altas alongside the Knights in the standings.

Trailing most majority of the way, the Bombers grabbed a 72-69 lead on Jed Mendoza’s own triple and Jun Silvarez’s putback but which proved to be their last stand as the Altas came through with that closing 9-0 run to steal the victory.

The Bombers took their seventh straight defeat.

Earlier, JJ Domingo came out of a scoring slump and lifted College of St. Benilde to an 84-71 victory over Emilio Aguinaldo College for a 3-4 card.

Domingo exploded with a season-best 22 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, to help quell EAC’s late fightback.

Domingo came two points shy of matching his career effort he posted last year while finally breaking a long silence after averaging a miserable 2.2 points a game and a previous season-best 10.

“We’ve been waiting for that kind of effort because we know he (Domingo) can score,” said CSB coach TY Tang.

The Generals slid to 2-5.

CSB’s Clement Leuthceu was ejected for two technical fouls, including one midway in the final period when he figured in a shoving match with EAC’s Juju Bautista.

The Cameroonian will be automatically suspended in CSB’s next game against Arellano U on Friday.

The scores:

First Game

CSB 84 – Domingo 22, Haruna 11, Leutcheu 9, Gutang 9, Naboa 6, Dixon 6, Nayve 5, Begica 4, Pasturan 4, Young 3, Velasco 2, Barnes 2

EAC 71 – Bautista 17, Laminou 13, Tampoc 10, Garcia 9, Diego 5, Mendoza 5, Bugarin 5, Maguliano 4, Gonzales 2, Cadua 1, Natividad 0, Robin 0, Neri 0

Quarterscores: 18-20; 44-31; 61-49; 84-71

Second Game

Perpetual Help 78 – Charcos 25, Razon 18, Coronel 16, Eze 7, Aurin 5, Peralta 5, Mangalino 2, Pasia 0, Cuevas 0, Sese 0, Tamayo 0

JRU 72 – Mendoza 21, Bordon 10, Silvarez 9, Estrella 8, Padua 6, Mallari 5, Dela Virgen 5, Esguerra 4, Santos 2, Aguilar 0, Miranda 0

Quarterscores: 18-13; 34-30; 55-46; 78-72