MANILA, Philippines — Clark Torrente made a buzzer-beating triple and the Senate Defenders kept their perfect record with a 53-52 nail-biter over the defending champions DENR Warriors in the 9th UNTV Cup on Wednesday at the Novadeci Convention Center in Quezon City.
The win extended Senate’s winning run in the tournament for public servants to four in Group B as the Defenders also drew 16 points from Lawrence Gasparilo and 14 from Harry Petilos.
In other Group B match, the NHA Home Masters posted their fourth straight win in five games with a 108-83 rout of the SSS Kabalikat while the OP-PMS Trailblazers kept their second-round bid alive by trouncing the Dept. of Agriculture Food Masters, 109-93.
Alvin Vitug put on another scoring clinic for the Home Masters of coach Bennett Palar by scattering 27 points to go with his 3 steals, 2 assists and 3 boards.
In notching their second win in four starts, the Traiblazers relied heavily on the hot hands of Jhon Kenneth Aljard, who erupted for 33 points.
With their defeats, SSS and Dept. of Agriculture were the first to be eliminated in the 12-tournament offering P3 million of the chosen charity of the champion team.