Birthday boy Escueta plays hero in Ateneo's second win

Jason Escueta received his perfect gift on his 24th birthday. The Ateneo guard sank two pressure-packed free throws with 2.1 seconds left in the game and lifted the Eagles to a tense 77-76 squeaker of pesky Arellano in the 2010 Filoil Flying V Preseason Invitational Cup at The Arena in San Juan. Escueta needed to be at the perfect place at the perfect time. He got a pass from Kirk Long, then drew a foul from Isiah Ciriacruz. The long-time Team B standout calmly dropped both gift shots to carry the Eagles to their second straight win in as many matches. But the win was indeed a reality check for coach Norman Black and his troop. They struggled for the second straight game and in fact missed a number of foul shots that nearly cost them the match.

The Chiefs still had a chance to snatch a win but Romand Avellana's off-balanced shot went off the mark as time expired. The reigning two-time Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines champion had to work double hard against the unpredictable Chiefs, who got big games from Ciriacruz and Adrian Celada. The Chiefs even gained control momentarily, posting a 47-38 lead before Ateneo crept behind a 15-7 spurt and trailed by just one, 53-54 entering the final 10 minutes of the game. The Blue Eagles grabbed a 75-73 lead as Long set up Eman Monfort for a wide-open trey with 1:06 left but Ciriacruz tied the game on a driving layup, 47.3 ticks to go. A turnover by Escueta put the ball back to the Chiefs and Ciriacruz drove and was fouled by Long with 11 seconds remaining. Ciriacruz made the first but muffed the second one, Long raced down low then found Escueta, who drew a for his winning free throws. Ciriacruz and Celada led the Arellano with 17 points each. In other games, University of the Philippines leaned on a big second half to hand La Salle its first loss of the tournament, 68-61. Fil-Am Mike Silungan, the highly-touted, 22-year old scorer from Chicago, fired 12 points while Woody Co added 11 as the Fighting Maroons picked up their first win two starts. Prized recruit Joshua Saret, who was surprisingly picked up by UP, had a solid eight-point showing while doing the little things that mattered most. No Archer scored in double figures. Gab Banal topscored with nine points while Joshua Webb only had six points, a far cry from his 23-point average in the first two games. San Beda scored its second win in three games by dumping Emilio Aguinaldo College, 91-67. Dave Marcelo powered the Red Lions with 14 points in the win. Reigning NCAA champion and recently-crowned Palarong Pambansa winner San Beda thrashed Adamson, 116-59, while Letran squeaked past Mapua, 84-83, in the juniors division. -GMANews.TV