Games Tomorrow(Filoil EcoOil Centre)12 p.m. — SSC-R vs JRU3 p.m. — AU vs LPU
COLLEGE of St. Benilde’s (CSB) Miguel Oczon routinely shoots a thousand triples just before the crack of dawn every day without fail for the big moment that he hopes will arrive.
It came yesterday.
The 21-year-old, six-foot gunslinger from Davao City buried a flurry of threes late as CSB weathered a James Kwekuteye-whipped San Beda storm and hacked out a 78-69 victory yesterday that kept its iron grip of the solo lead in NCAA Season 98 at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.
With their double-digit lead blown and trailing by two with less than five minutes to go, Mr. Oczon went on a three-point shooting spree and knocked down three of those including one with a defender on his face and their shot clock winding down that turned things around in their favor.
The sweet-shooting, high-scoring Mr. Kwekuteye utterly dominated Mr. Oczon and erupted for a game-best 28 points that included a rain of six triples.
But Mr. Oczon had the last laugh as he strung together those napalm-injected threes late while Mr. Kwekuteye was silenced.
When it was over, Mr. Oczon ended up with a team-high 19 points highlighted by what he does best—five booming treys—and CSB its seventh win in eight outings and a firmer grip of No. 1.
“I thank the Lord for making this win possible and Miggy Oczon also,” said CSB coach Charles Tiu. “I was teasing him up a bit because he couldn’t make a shot.
“But he’s the hardest worker in the team, wakes up 4 or 5 a.m. every morning just to shoot. It’s nice to see his hard work paying off,” he added.
The Lions slipped to 5-3.
Earlier, Lyceum of the Philippines University outlasted San Sebastian in overtime, 82-79, to zoom to No. 2 with a 6-2 card.
The Stags dropped to 2-5. — Joey Villar
The scores:
First Game
LPU 82 – Guadana 14, Bravo 14, Barba 11, Umali 9, Penafiel 9, Navarro 8, Valdez 7, Montano 5, Cunanan 3, Larupay 2, Aviles 0, Villegas 0
San Sebastian 79 – Escobido 12, Desoyo 12, Calahat 9, Felebrico 9, Villapando 7, Altamirano 7, Cosari 7, Sumoda 5, Una 3, Yambing 3, Concha 3, Shanoda 2, Are 0
Quarterscores: 27-29; 48-46; 61-64; 73-73 (OT); 82-79
Second Game
CSB 78 – Oczon 19, Gozum 16, Corteza 11, Nayve 10, Carlos 5, Cullar 4, Sangco 4, Lepalam 4, Pasturan 3, Marcos 2, Flores 0, Cajucom 0
San Beda 69– Kwekuteye 28, Cometa 10, Bahio 9, Ynot 8, Sanchez 5, Alfaro 3, Andrada 2, Cortez 2, Payosing 2, Jopia 0, Visser 0, Cuntapay 0
Quarterscores: 17-14; 37-31; 51-49; 78-69