Altas live on charities, edge Chiefs

Games Thursday

4 p.m. – San Sebastian vs EAC

6 p.m – Lyceum vs Letran

MANILA, Philippines - Perpetual Help thrived under pressure while Arellano U did not as the Altas claimed the win in a see-sawing battle through Harold Arboleda’s pressure-packed charities.

Arboleda drained two free throws while Adam Jacob Serjue missed two on the other end as the Altas escaped with an 82-80 victory over the Chiefs to regain a share of second with San Beda in the 89th NCAA men’s basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City yesterday.

“He’s the leader of this team because of his big heart. And he showed it in this game by making those crucial free throws,” said Perpetual Help coach Aric del Rosario in Pilipino, referring to the 23-year-old Arboleda.

Nigerian Nosa Omorogbe, running second behind Letran’s Raymond Almazan in the MVP derby, erupted with a season-high 26 points and completed another double-double job with 12 rebounds. He also had four assists.

But it was Arboleda who came through when the Altas needed it most.

Serjue, stepping up in the absence of suspended fellow Fil-Canadian James Forrester, actually shoved Arellano U to an 80-78 lead with 2.14 minutes left in the contest but Arboleda tied it from the line at 80, 26.8 seconds remaining. 

The Chiefs then bungled their possession and Omorogbe fired an air-ball from behind the arc, the ball landing on the hands of Arboleda, who was subsequently fouled by Ralph Salcedo with 6.3 ticks left in the clock.

Arboleda again calmly made his foul shots to put Perpetual ahead but Serjue kept Arellano’s bid alive after drawing a foul from Justine Alano on the next play with 0.8 second to go.

But Serjue, who has missed the whole season last year and majority of the first round, wilted under gnawing pressure, muffing his charities and allowing the Altas to escape with the win.

“We kept our composure till the end, that was the key,” said Del Rosario.

The come-from-behind win thus put the Las Piñas-based school in step with San Beda on 8-2 (win-loss) slates, just a game behind league leader Letran (9-1).

In the nightcap, St. Benilde hung tough enough to eke out a 57-55 win over Jose Rizal, which absorbed a fifth loss against same number of wins.

Arellano U, which was led by Keith Agovida’s 17 and Levi Hernandez’s 16, fell to joint No. 8 with Lyceum on 3-7 cards.

With Juneric Baloria silenced early, Omorogbe picked up the slack and dropped 19 points on the Chiefs as the Altas took the half at 40-39.

Baloria later made up for his first half woes by scoring all his 14 points in the second half, including nine in a big run in the final period.