The Kings personified fortitude and big fighting heart at crunchtime to fend off the gritty Allied Bank cagers, 59-56, and clinch the championship of the 2008 Cebu United Bankers Association (CUBA) First Conference Basketball Tournament last Saturday at the Our Lady of Sacred Heart Parish gym along Escario Street, this city.
The Kings blew off a nine-point advantage in the early goings, but rode on their stilfling defensive stance and the crucial free throws of Ronron Yap and Charles Dabon in the closing seconds of the match to hang on to a three-point victory.
The two protagonists fought on level playing field at the start, but the Kings managed to take a 14-11 edge at the end of the first quarter.
Behind the deadly one-two punch of Yap and Ervin Letrero, the Kings staged a daring breakaway in the second period to pad their lead to 30-21 at the intermission on William Appari’s buzzer-beating shot.
Allied Bank rallied back in the third to pull within, 39-41, but hulking center Robert Rafson Chua nailed a buzzer-beating twinner to give the Kings a four-point cushion, 43-39, heading into the final 10-minute mark of the contest.
The battle went down-the-wire and was accounted for three deadlocks, the last was at 56-all as Yap canned a pair of pressure-packed freebies to hand the Kings a 58-56 breather with 31 seconds left to play.
In the ensuing sequence, the Kings threw a poroud defensive blanker to deny Allied Bank to execute one good play.
After securing the defensive rebounds, Dabon was quickly fouled with 10 ticks left before the final buzzer. He hit only one free throw but that was all enough to send the Kings to seventh heaven.
Allied Bank actually had a chance to forge an overtime, but Hendry Mancera’s 3-point attempt was way of the mark as the gameclock expired.
Yap, younger brother of Purefoods Giants star Roger Yap, topscored the Kings with 16 points followed by Letrero, who took home the coveted MVP trophy, with 15 markers. Dabon and Niño Go connived for 16 points.
Former USP Panther Bogart Nemenzo paced Allied Bank with 19 points, while Mancera scored 17 in a losing effort.—EBV