Breakout game for Dagangon as Altas beat Pirates

Games Sunday

(The Arena, San Juan City)

12 p.m. – San Sebastian vs San Beda (jrs/srs)

4 p.m. – Mapua vs Arellano U (srs/jrs)

MANILA, Philippines – Gab Dagangon has been in a constant, persistent search for a breakout performance in his first nine games of the season. His search ended Saturday.

Finally finding the rhythm after an erratic start, Dagangon dished out a career game as he powered Perpetual Help to a 65-60 victory over Lyceum to jump to a three-way logjam at third place with Jose Rizal and St. Benilde in the 90th NCAA basketball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City.

Scoring just 16 points combined on a miserly six-of-21 shooting clip entering the game, Dagangon poured in a career-high 14 points, including two dagger triples in the fourth quarter, to help the Altas notch their sixth win in 10 outings, enough to catapult them to No. 3 with the Bombers and Blazers.

"I was just fortunate to get the extra minutes and I took advantage of my chances," said Dagangon, who transferred from Industrial College in Davao, in Filipino.

Perpetual Help coach Aric del Rosario, for his part, said he wasn't surprised with Dagangon's play.

"When I first saw him play, I knew he will be a special player," said del Rosario of Dagangon, a 21-year-old native of Cotabato City. "He just need more experience to consistently come up with that kind of game."

Juneric Baloria and Harold Arboleda fired 12 and 10 points, respectively, on the eve of the PBA rookie draft set at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Robinson's Place Manila where they hope to get picked and signed up to lucrative contracts.

Justine Alano continued his solid play by scattering 14 points while Earl Scottie Thomspon had 10 points, a game-high 15 rebounds, four assists and a steal that further bolstered his stock in the MVP race where he is currently No. 1.

It was, however, Dagangon who stepped up the biggest.

Down by four early in the third period, Thompson sparked a series of onslaughts that Dagangon capped by burying a jumper that gave the Altas a 50-40 lead entering the final canto.

Dagangon then buried two 3-pointers that helped Perpetual Help extend the lead to its biggest, 61-46, that also cushioned the impact of a furious fightback launched by a stubborn Bonnie Tan-coached Lyceum side.

Dexter Zamora led the Pirates with 18 points while bull-strong Joseph Gabayni, a neophyte transferee out of Santo Tomas, had another double-double with 14 points and 10 boards. But they couldn't prevent their team from absorbing a fifth loss against the same number of wins.

It didn't help Lyceum that Shane Ko was out due to sickness.

In juniors' action, the Junior Altas edged the Junior Pirates, 79-76, to bolster its Final Four stock.

The Scores:

First Game (jrs)

Perpetual (79) – Sison 23, Chavez 19, Villaceran 15, Alarcon 11, Umali 6, Neri 3, Tan 2, Yaco 0, Manaligod 0.

LPU (76) – Cecilio 19, Menil 14, Bautista 11, Jungco 9, Santos 7, Wong 7, Lagman 6, Jastin Agdon 3, Castaneda 0, Pere 0, Jassen Agdon 0, Romanes 0, Guadana 0.

Quarterscores: 25-16, 40-30, 61-59, 79-76.

Second Game (srs)

Perpetual (65) – Dagangon 14, Alano 14, Baloria 12, Thompson 10, Arboleda 10, Sadiwa 5, Olivera 0, Dizon 0, Ylagan 0, Tamayo 0, Bantayan 0, Gallardo 0, Jolangcob 0.

LPU (60) – Zamora 18, Gabayni 14, Baltazar 10, Taladua 9, Lesmoras 5, Mbidda 2, Bulawan 2, Soliman 0, Malabanan 0, Elmejrab 0, Maconocido 0.

Quarterscores: 14-10, 26-26, 50-40, 65-60.