Las Piñas snares CUSA cage crown

Las Piñas College captured its first Colleges and Universities Sports Association (CUSA) title yesterday, but not after surviving a University of Assumption-Pampanga five-point bomb inside six seconds at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The final score: 75-74.

The Huskies were already celebrating on the bench when Mark Constantino gave them a 75-69 lead with 12 seconds remaining.

But the Pelicans were not about to fold up that easily.

Welihado Duyag was fouled while attempting from three-point territory with time down to six seconds. He made the first two gift shots and intentionally missed the third, the ball landing on Roel Galura who quickly kicked the ball out to Duyag.

The Huskies’ jaw dropped when Duyag nailed the trey to move to within a point with two seconds left.

The Pelicans stopped the clock with a quick foul, but Huskies’ Noli Mejos, after muffing his first attempt, wisely flubbed the second as time expired.

With the frontliners of UA-P making life miserable for ace slotman Dennis Daa, the shooters of LPC alternately burned the Pelicans from downtown.

Hot outside shooting from Chrisante Espera and Mart Piodo in the first quarter gave LPC an early double-digit spread at 23-12.

The Pelicans countered with a 12-0 run bridging the first and second quarter to grab the lead for the first time, 24-23.

LPC opened the second half with an 18-5 attack capped by Joel Gragasin’s back-to-back treys to post a commanding 56-42 cushion.

Galura kept UA-P within 56-61 going into the fourth period with his own cluster of triples. But timely snipings from Piodo and Alcaraz stymied every UA-P uprising in the homestretch.

The victory earned LPC the right to represent CUSA in the Colleges and Universities Basketball Challenge of Champions (CUBCC) in November.