Baloria erupts for 32 points as Altas outlast Knights

MANILA, Philippines – Juneric Baloria went on a fourth quarter shooting spree as he lifted Perpetual Help to a pulsating 85-82 win over a hard-luck Letran squad to regain a piece of third place with Jose Rizal in the 90th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City Saturday.

Proving he's the league's deadliest scorer, Baloria erupted for a league-best 32 points, 10 of which came in the final period in helping the Altas snare their fifth win against three losses, which was good for joint third with the Bombers.

Baloria, who is averaging 20.86 points an outing going into this game, scored eight points in the final minute, including a booming triple and a 3-point play that pushed the Las Pinas-based school to within a point.

His other two points came with 19.5 seconds remaining when he picked neophyte Kier Quinto's pocket for that clutch basket that gave Perpetual Help the marginal edge as Letran blew their chances at saving the game.

"I was just acting on instinct," said the 23-year-old Baloria, who is playing his last season. "They were leading and they got the ball so the first thing that came into mind is to steal it back and score."

Baloria's coach, Aric del Rosario, was impressed.

"He’s (Baloria) reaping the fruits of his hard labor because he really works hard in practice," said Del Rosario of Baloria, whom he found playing in the basketball courts of Angeles City, Pampanga.

Justine Alano, Harold Arboleda and Earl Scottie Thompson provided the needed support by adding 15, 14 and 11 points, respectively.

Diminutive Joel Jolangcob scored only five points, but his offensive rebound following misses by Nambatac and Letran co-skipper Mark Cruz and two free throws with 2.5 seconds remaining gave the Altas a three-point cushion.

The win was a soothing balm to the pain Perpetual Help suffered after dropping last Wednesday's 77-75 defeat to four-peat titlist San Beda.

The Altas had an opportunity to steal that game but Jolangcob missed a potential overtime-forcing triple at the buzzer.

Jolangcob found redemption by knocking down two crucial free throws in the stretch.

The Knights had one more chance to save the game but Kevin Racal, their other skipper, inbounded the ball to Cruz too wide, resulting into a backing violation with half a second to go.

Perpetual Help just threw the ball in afterwards to seal the deal.

Nambatac led his team with 23 points he highlighted with two straight triples, which capped a rally that saw Letran turn an eight-point deficit to a 79-75 lead with about two minutes in the clock.

And then Baloria happened.

Letran fell to 2-6 (win-loss)

The scores:

Perpetual (85) – Baloria 32, Alano 15, Arboleda 14, Thompson 11, Ylagan 6, Jolangcob 5, Dizon 2, Oliveria 0, Dagangon 0.

Letran (82) – Nambatac 23, Racal 14, Cruz 12, Gabawan 10, Ruaya 9, Tambeling 9, Quinto 5, Castro 0, Luib 0, Singontiko 0, Publico 0.

Quarterscores: 17-30, 40-45, 65-59, 85-82.