Gabines’ late trey catapults Cheetahs to second victory

CEBU, Philippines — In what is perhaps the biggest shot of his life, Serge Gabines drilled a game-winning 3-pointer in the final five seconds of the contest to lift the Benedicto College Cheetahs to a nerve-racking 69-67 victory over the Cebu Roosevelt Memorial Colleges (CRMC) Mustangs in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) Season 23 Men’s Basketball Tournament on Tuesday night at the Cebu Coliseum.

The Cheetahs squandered a 13-point lead early, 38-51, in the second half but rode on the endgame heroics of Gabines to nail their second victory in four starts.

Finding themselves down by a hairline, 66-67, Gabines fired a wide-open trey that hit nothing but net, sending his teammates and the rest of the Cheetahs bench led by coach BJ Murillo into frenzied celebration with only five ticks left in the game clock.

The Mustangs had a chance to steal the match but team captain Paulo Dalumpines flubbed his attempt from beyond the arc. The ball then went out of bounds spelling their doom.

Gabines finished with only nine points but was definitely the man of the hour for Benedicto College.

Den Rick Orgong topscored for the Cheetahs with 16 points, while Junnil Bulan and Kenneth Babalcon connived for 21 markers underscoring their balanced attack.

Redjhee Recimiento and James Gelig finished with 29 combined points while Dalumpines scored 10 but their efforts went down the drain as the Mustangs crashed to their fourth straight loss after winning their league debut against the Felipe R. Verallo Foundation College (FRVFC) Blue Dragons last September 23.

In the juniors division, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars stretched their perfect start to 3-0 after slaughtering the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Baby Panthers, 79-60.

Ryan Justin Artis and JLord Pepito tallied an identical 13 points while JV Oringo and Chan Benedict Brigoli chipped in 12 markers each as the unbeaten Baby Jaguars stayed at second place in the standings behind the 5-0 University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue (UCLM) Baby Webmasters.