NCAA: T-Mc Ongotan regains form as Arellano escapes San Sebastian to book QF spot

T-Mc Ongotan rediscovered his form to help Arellano University eke out a 69-61 win over the upset-hungry San Sebastian College-Recoletos in the NCAA Season 102 on Tuesday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.

Ongotan, whose ankle injury left a huge void in the Chiefs' offense as they lost three straight games against Lyceum, Perpetual, and Letran, returned in all-around fashion, dropping 22 points, five rebounds, four blocks, and two steals as the Chiefs formally sealed a quarterfinals spot with a 6-6 record.

By sending the Stags to their 12th consecutive loss this season, Arellano is also on track to lock down the Group B top seed that comes with a twice-to-beat bonus in the payoffs.

"Talagang ang hirap nilang (San Sebastian) talunin and ang ganda rin ng preparation nila so nag-adjust kami kasi bumalik na si T-Mc at Basti from the injuries," Arellano head coach Chico Manabat said.

"So nasagad ko siya (Ongotan) ng more than 30 minutes and aside doon, nag-focus kami sa Baste kasi hindi dapat kami umasa sa iba. Kailangan naming mag-trabaho para makuha namin 'yung last two games namin."

(It's really difficult to beat them and they prepared really well so we had to make adjustments since T-Mc and Basti came back from injuries... So I maximized his playing time, more than 30 minutes, and aside from that, we focused on Baste because we can't rely on other teams. We need to put in the work so we can win our last two games.)

Eager to put an end to a woeful 11-game losing streak, San Sebastian entered the match with a sole mission of barging into the win column as evidenced by an early 19-7 lead in the first quarter.

They took a 40-36 lead into the halftime lead after Khit Barroga knocked down a triple to end the second period, before the Chiefs trimmed that to just one by the end of the third, 51-50.

The fourth quarter saw Arellano pulling away with Renzo Abiera capping a 10-0 rampage with a one-handed slam in the final 4:34.

But the Stags staged another fightback behind Caesleyh Bacani, whose seven straight points pulled San Sebastian to within four points, 58-62. Arellano, though, held on with Abiera burying a triple and Ongotan and Maverick Vinoya each sinking a pair of free throws to seal it.

Bacani led the Stags with 19 points while Nurben Muktimar flirted with a double-double of 16 markers and nine rebounds.

—JMB, GMA News