FilOil: Letran ekes out OT win over San Sebastian behind Almazan's double-double

The Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights scored a thriller of a 96-94 win against the San Sebastian-Recoletos Golden Stags, Friday, in the FilOil Flying V Hanes Preseason Cup elimination round at the FilOil Flying V Arena. Letran squandered a seven-point lead in the final period, allowing Bradwyn Guinto to tie the game with 13 seconds left on the clock at 79-79. They had a chance to win in regulation, but rookie Rey Nambatac couldn't seal the deal for the Knights as his jumper clanked off the rim as regulation time expired. San Sebastian looked to blow by Letran in extra time after a CJ Perez and-one and a Jon Rebollos trey put them up by six. The Knights came charging back though, as twin lay-ups by Raymond Almazan complemented strong hits by Nambatac and Mark Cruz, punctuating a furious 11-2 run on a Cruz breakaway, 91-87, with under two minutes to play. The Stags crashed the offensive glass and drew contact, knotting the score on made charities by Perez, 94-all, with 33 ticks left. Nambatac then countered for the Knights with a strong baseline drive, getting contact and making two from the line. With 14 seconds to play, the Stags settled for a Tano three-point attempt that missed. The rebound went long and fell out of bounds, leaving 2.6 seconds on the game clock. Letran sued timeout and inbounded the ball safely to Mcjour Luib who was fouled, but missed both charities. However, the buzzer sounded expired by the time the Stags controlled the ball, handing the Knights the win. Almazan led all scorers with 27 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks. Cruz racked up 19 points and seven rebounds, while Nambatac added 13 markers and nine boards. Franz Dysam and Fidel Castro added 12 and 11 points, respectively. "Mindset ko talaga kailangang mag-step up talaga," said Almazan, adding that he's adjusting to his leadership role with the team. Knights head coach Caloy Garcia rued his team's slow start and said his team needed to do a better job down the stretch. At the same time he gave credit to San Sebastian, for the tough fight they gave his team. "He can space the floor and hit three point shots," he said of Stags power forward Leo De Vera, adding that CJ Perez was also tough to match up against. Letran improved to 2-1 in Group B play, while the Stags suffered their second straight overtime loss, 2-3. In the first quarter, the Knights were stone-walled by San Sebastian's interior defense. Meanwhile the Stags got a couple transition baskets by Perez to bolster an early 9-3 lead. San Sebastian pushed their advantage to nine, 16-7, on Leo De Vera's second three-pointer. However the cracks in their defense began to show as the Stags began conceding baskets from all over the floor. Letran closed the last two minutes on an 11-2 run, trailing 19-18 after the first period. Both teams shot poorly in the second quarter, but Letran's dominance of the offensive glass kept them close. The Knights briefly took a 25-24 lead on a baseline jumper by Mark Cruz with five and a half minutes to play, but San Sebastian seized it back as their drives began to fall, and another De Vera triple highlighted a 10-2 run, 34-27. Jonathan Belorio scored, cutting to the basket with under two minutes to play, ending a three and a half minute drought for the Knights. He and Raymond Almazan worked to offset penalty free throws and a Raffy Gusi triple for the Stags, who led 38-33 after two quarters. San Sebastian made 14-of-33 from the field after two quarters (42 percent) against Letran's 13-of-46 clip (28 percent). However the Knights led 13-3 in second-chance points, thanks to a 15-4 offensive rebounding edge. Letran crept closer in the third quarter as their outside shots began to fall. The Knights cut the lead to one, 47-46, on three-pointers by Nambatac and Fidel Castro, with five and a half minutes to play. De Vera was benched due to foul trouble, limiting the Stags' ability to stretch the floor, and so San Sebastian was forced to try to score inside, unsuccessfully, while the Knights charged to the hoop on the other end. Almazan, Cruz and Castro had 11 points in a 13-3 run, 59-50, with under two minutes to play. But the lead was not safe as the Stags stormed back to jump ahead anew, after Franz Dysam earned an unsportsmanlike foul for contact against Gio Vergara. The Stags strung together nine unanswered points, capped by a Jon Rebollos triple, but fortunately for Letran, Dysam countered late from beyond the arc to keep a 64-57 advantage heading into the final period. Dysam scored six of the Knights' first eight points in the fourth, but they were losing ground to a Stags squad eager to attack in transition, 72-68, on charities by Jovit Dela Cruz. With under four minutes to play, Almazan earned consecutive trips to the line but split both times, widening their lead to six. The Stags called timeout and produced a Bradwyn Guinto and-one, followed by a Rebollos tip-in to cut the deficit to one. But Almazan replied anew for the Knights by scoring on the block, 76-73, with 1:50 left on the clock. The Knights had two chances to score after a timeout but squandered both. Rebollos then zipped up-court for a lay-up to cut the lead to one. However both teams came up empty on their next tries, and the Stags fouled Almazan on a rebound attempt with 39.1 ticks left. This time the center made both, 78-75. San Sebastian called a timeout and CJ Perez drew a foul, splitting his charities with 26 seconds to play. He missed his second and the Stags were forced to foul Mark Cruz. The point guard also split, 79-76, with 20 seconds left. The Stags went back to Guinto, who converted another and-one with 13 ticks remaining to force a tie game and a Letran timeout. However Nambatac couldn't drain a potential game-winner from the left elbow, sending the game into overtime. Letran finished the game shooting 33-of-87 from the field (38 percent), including 7-of-29 from long range (24 percent). In comparison the Stags shot 31-of-80 (39 percent), plus 9-of-22 from beyond the arc (41 percent). The Knights also held a 22-11 advantage in turnover points and 60-54 in rebounding, including 25-18 offensive. Leo De Vera and CJ Perez added 20 points apiece, while the latter added 14 rebounds and five assists. Mark Tano and Bradwyn Guinto had 13 and 12 points, respectively, and tied with six boards. Jon Rebollos notched 10 points, four rebounds and four assists. - AMD, GMA News The scores: CSJL 96: Almazan 27, Cruz 19, Nambatac 13, Dysam 12, Castro 11, Gabawan 6, Belorio 4, Luib 4, Publico 0, Po 0, Pantin 0, Tembeling 0, Buenaflor 0 SSCR 94: De Vera 20, Perez 20, Tano 13, Guinto 12, Rebollos 10, Dela Cruz 8, Gusi 7, Vergara 3, Balacunag 1, Lee 0 Quarter-scoring: 18-19, 33-38, 64-57, 79-79, 96-94