Despite having only 6 players and nearly forfeiting the game, Team Mille tallied their first win in the 2018 season of the APCRAA Basketball Tournament (ABT) elimination round, beating Team Titans, 86-85 on Saturday, August 11 at the Asia Pacific College gymnasium.
Due to the inclement weather experienced in Metro Manila, Team Mille only had four players available during the 15-minute grace period given by the league. After a short discussion between league commissioner Dann Garcia and the team captains of both teams, Team Titans gave Team Mille only a three-minute additional grace period, or the game would be forfeited. Fortunately, Mille’s fifth player arrived and the game was immediately started.
Mille took control most of the game, leading by as much as 16 points in the fourth quarter. A late-game Titans rally decreased the lead by a single point with 52 seconds left in the game. However, Team Titans were not able to capitalize on Team Mille’s missed shots and turnovers as Titans missed a potential game winner in the dying seconds of the game.
Rudyard Sunga of Team Mille carried most of their team’s scoring and rebounding chores, finishing with a season-high 33 points and 25 rebounds. This is two boards shy of tying the all-time ABT rebounding record set by Norman Ringor in the 2015 second conference.
Team Titan’s Ronnie Corsino had a double-double game with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Jerl Ferrer is on track in capturing the Rookie of the Year honors with 21 points, 22 rebounds and 4 assists.
Both teams will be in action on August 18 as Team Mille will face Team OGs at 5:00pm while Team Titans will go up against Team Knights at 8:00pm.
THE SCORES (FIBA LiveStats):
TITANS (85): Corsino 24, Ferrer 21, Juadines 16, Prayco 10, Quilang 8, Visconde 6, De Jesus 0, Villanueva 0, Sandigan 0, Regilme 0
MILLE (86): Sunga 33, Acdal 17, Javier C 15, Alcantara 9, Mariano 1
QUARTERSCORES: 23-24, 40-49, 60-69, 85-86