LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – La Trinidad survived a gritty Itogon, 95-92, to remain the only unbeaten team in the Cong. Eric Go Yap Congressional Cup – Benguet Basketball League at the La Trinidad Municipal gym here Tuesday night.
A 20 – point lead midway in the second half was weathered by Itogon and even took a single point lead twice late in the fourth quarter.
Zachary Kean Diaz and Will Keane Lee joined forces to hold off a gritty Itogon including a timely trey by the former to give Trinidad a three-point advantage.
But Itogon just simply would not wilt as it fought on.
“That was a good basket and the pressure was lifted off our shoulder,” said Diaz of the three late in fourth quarter that broke an 84-all tie.
Diaz finished with a game high 25 points aside from hauling six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Lee, on the other hand, had another double – double of 21 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and two steals.
“That is always our problem, we allow our opponents to catch up on us. But we managed to survive,” said coach Jhong del Rosario for his team which won for the fifth time and the conclusion that saw them fight two tough teams in three days. Trinidad also survived Tuba last Saturday when Lee scored a monstrous 43 points, a follow up to his league record 48 the other week.
Armando Pollante added 15 points, hauled 13 boards, while dished three assists, three steals and two blocks.
Pollante hit the final point for the team when he sunk his first free throw, missed the second then grabbed the rebound with 7.4 seconds left. He went back to the free throw area and missed both his free throws.
Itogon opened with a 10-0 lead until Gerald Abella scored from 12 feet with 8:20 left in the first canto. That started a 17-4 run by Trinidad that saw them take the lead 19-14 with 4:20 left in the period thanks to Russel Tuazon’s steal that led to his five point effort.
By the midpoint of the second quarter, La Trinidad has a 52-32 lead, but a 6-0 Itogon run in just a minute saw the lead down to 14, 52-38. The lead was cut further to nine, thanks to Sachi Caballero and a trey by Lenz Antolino.
Itogon cut the lead to only five, 52-57, at halftime.
Five Itogon players scored in double digits with Caballero leading the way with 23 points, while Padawag had 21.
Antolino, who hit the trey that gave Itogon a one-point lead midway in the fourth, had 16, while Michael Dannang chipped in 14 and hauled 12 boards. Chad Villanueva scored 10 and grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked four times. CEGYCC Release
