A three-point buzzer-beater by Lorenz Ysulan gave Team Knights its third straight victory in the 2018 season of the APCRAA Basketball Tournament (ABT) elimination round against Team ASPAC, 90-89 on Saturday, August 11 at the Asia Pacific College Gymnasium.
It was a see-saw battle as both teams got a fair share of the lead until the last two minutes of the game, with ASPAC leading by three, 87-84. Ysulan tied the game with 37 seconds on the clock thanks to a three-point play after being fouled by Nico Conta. In the insuing play, Carlo Aboboto made a drive to the basket to give ASPAC a two-point lead, 89-87 with 3.1 seconds remaining. Team Knights called a timeout to advance the ball in midcourt.
Ysulan got open at the three-point arc, but his attempt was defended by Conta, forcing Ysulan to change the direction of his shot. The three-point attempt went in. Upon the referees’ close scrutiny of the video of the last play, the ball already left Ysulan’s hands at 0.2 seconds. The referees ruled that the three-point shot was counted, giving the win to Team Knights.
Alex Tagle of Team Knights had a good game, scoring a season-high of 32 points with 9 rebounds and 3 assists. JC Hermo was not far behind with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists.
ASPAC’s Aboboto led all players in scoring, finishing with 33 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Reigning MVP Mark Pagaduan scored 21 points, just 53 more to be the first player from Team ASPAC to join the 500 points club.
Despite a red rainfall alert in Metro Manila on Saturday afternoon, the games were played as scheduled, albeit with a 45-minute delay to start the first game in consideration of the players for both teams. A power failure was also experienced two minutes into the 2nd quarter as all the lights in the gymnasium went off and the game got delayed once again for about 15 minutes.
Team Knights will be in action on August 18 as they face Team Titans at 8:00pm. Team ASPAC will play their third to the last game of the season against the same team on August 25.
THE SCORES (FIBA LiveStats):
ASPAC (89): Aboboto 33, Pagaduan 21, Chandnani 12, Ilustre 7, Conta 6, Gamboa 6, Pe Benito 4
KNIGHTS (90): Tagle 32, Hermo JC 23, Cerrado 10, Ysulan 10, Tragico 6, Dizon 5, Dionisio 4, Hermo JL 0
QUARTERSCORES: 29-21, 52-52, 68-74, 89-90