UL Tigers crush UPang Webczars, 73-58
Reeling from a loss against co-title contender Lyceum Northwestern University (LNU) Dukes on September 7, the defending champions University of Luzon (UL) Golden Tigers came out smoking hot four days after that defeat to crush arch-rival University of Pangasinan Webczars, 73-58, in the first of two elimination rounds of the Pangasinan-Dagupan PRISAA Inter-Collegiate Basketball Tournament held Monday at the LNU gym.
The Tigers’ victory placed them in a tie with the Dukes and Webczars with an identical card of four wins and a single loss.
The Tigers orchestrated a run-and-gun play in the first quarter with two treys from point-guard Marvin Macalalad and Geran Paul Sabordo plus Norman Ilao contributing to take the lead, 21-14 after 10 minutes into the game.
The boys of Councilor Chito Samson increased their gap to 11 points midway in the second quarter until misfortune struck them when one of their key players, Jonathan Panunciar, received an accidental head butt during a scramble for the ball and suffered a deep cut below his left eyebrow which kept him off the court for the rest of the battle.
Despite Panunciar’s absence, the Tigers, coached by Jack Vidal, maintained their composure and defended their lead up to the end of the first half, 34-25.
But Jay Ronquillo, using his magnificent seven boys the whole game, got back into the third period, engineering a 17-6 romp to tie the score, 40-40, forcing Vidal to call a time-out and set up another strategy.
The plan, which was a full-court press and stifling defense, rattled the Webczars and forced them to commit multiple errors putting them behind by the end of the third quarter, 53-45.
The packed crowd broke into a thunderous frenzy when Ilao made a two-hand slam-dunk at the start of the fourth and final period.
From there on, it was a show for the Tigers countering every basket of their enemies and eventually winning by 15 points.
Ilao scored a game high 20 points while new recruit Sabordo had 15 and Macalalad with 13, nine of them beyond the rainbow line.
Webczars neophyte guard Bryan Basto had a team high 14 points while veteran court-general Virgilio Olero, missing four consecutive free throws in the end game, contributed 13—JAG, Jr.
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