Chiefs whip Altas, cling to second

Games tomorrow (The Arena, San Juan)

12 noon – San Beda vs St. Benilde (jrs/srs)

4 p.m. – Mapua vs San Sebastian (srs/jrs)

MANILA, Philippines - Keith Agovida churned out a double-double game with four other Arellano U players coming through with double-digit outputs as the Chiefs repulsed the Perpetual Help Altas, 97-85, to cling to second place behind unbeaten leader San Beda in the 90th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City yesterday.

Agovida delivered 22 points and 10 rebounds while Nard Pinto, Jiovani Jalalon, Levi Hernandez and Allen Enriquez contributed at least 11 points each as the Chiefs put in the largest output by any team in a game and improved to 5-1, half-a-game behind the Lions at 5-0.

It’s Arellano’s best start in a season since joining the country’s oldest collegiate league in 2009.

“When they took me in as coach, my goal is to steer the school to a first Final Four stint. Hopefully, we achieve it,” said Arellano U coach Jerry Codinera.

With Agovida, Pinto, Jalalon, Hernandez and Enriquez all coming out firing, Arellano streaked to a third straight win with a huge 97-point output eclipsing the previous season-high that the Chiefs themselves set in a 93-80 bashing of the Lyceum Pirates last June 30.

It underscored Arellano U’s reputation as the league’s best scoring squad after coming into this game with a league best average of 83.6 points a game.

“We also put premium on defense but we try to balance it as much as we can because we have the tools to do so,” said Codinera.

Trailing by four, 41-45, after the first half, Arellano went on full throttle in the final half and outgunned Perpetual, 56-40.

Perpetual Help set the pace in the first half and majority of the third quarter behind the efforts of Earl Scottie Thompson, Harold Arboleda and Juneric Baloria, who fired 25, 24 and 18 points, respectively.

But the Altas couldn’t keep up as Arellano U went on the attack mode.

Perpetual Help suffered a second straight defeat and slid to a share of No. 4 with San Sebastian.

Jalalon, a transferee from Informatics, continued to impress with his all-around play, adding seven assists, six rebounds and two steals to his scoring.