MANILA, Philippines -- Emilio Aguinaldo College mounted a spirited rally to take a come-from-behind 73-72 victory against College of Saint Benilde in 89th NCAA men's basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan Thursday.
The Generals clamped down on defense to limit the Blazers to only two points and closed the game with a 15-2 blast to escape with the win.
"It is really a good win for us, down double digits hindi sila sumuko. Depensa ang key para sa panalo namin," said EAC coach Gerry Esplana.
The Blazers took a 70-58 lead with 5:42 remaining and looked poised to break the game wide open, but the Generals cranked up their defense to kick start their rally.
Paolo Taha scored the last basket of the Blazers -- a baseline jumper to give Benilde a 72-64 lead at the 4:14 mark.
In a bizarre turn of events featuring a myriad of turnovers, the Generals finally caught up when Noube Happi's split his free throws with 10.8 ticks left to tie the score at 72-all.
Luis Sinco committed a costly turnover that led to a foul by Taha on John Tayongtong, who promptly headed to the line and split his charities for the final count.
Jonathan Grey had the chance to win the game but badly missed a desperation trey at the buzzer.
"The last two games medyo di talaga maganda laro namin, pero lumabas na yung mga ginagawa namin sa practice," said Tayongtong, who also drained a 12-footer to cut Benilde’s lead, 71-72, with 2:01 remaining.
"Talagang pinupush kami ng mga coaches namin sa practice at swerte na din kami at nakuha itong panalo,†he added.
Tayongtong and Igee King tallied 16 points each while Happi had a 14-point, 17-rebound effort despite nursing an MCL injury on his right knee.
"Si Happi hindi 100 percent yan pero siya ang naging motivation ng mga teammates niya to play harder," said Esplana.
Taha led the Blazers with 17 markers while Mark Romero and Luis Sinco added 16 and 14 points, respectively.
CSB took advantage of a poor showing from EAC in the second period -- the Generals managed only four points -- to take a 38-31 advantage at the break.
Taha scored 12 first half points to lead the Blazers while Happi drilled 10 for the Generals.
EAC finally barged into the win column and improved to 1-2 while host Benilde remains winless in two games.