Flaming Arrows blaze into finals versus Doves

Orlando Daroya was hot and on time last Friday in the 13th National Capital Region Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament.

Daroya delivered the winning basket as Arellano University capitalized on two turnovers by La Salle-Dasmariñas in the endgame to pull off an 87-83 triumph in their Final Four semifinal showdown at the Pasay Sports Complex.

This earned the Flaming Arrows their first-ever finals stint since joining the league last year, setting up coach Leo Isaac’s over-achieving wards in a best-of-three clash against a vastly experienced St. Francis of Assisi Doves.

The Doves, who play the Flaming Arrows in Game 1 at 1 p.m. today at the San Andres Gym, had to overcome Polytechnic University of the Philippines twice since the Maroons entered the semis with a twice-to-beat privilege.

St. Francis hurdled its first obstacle–a 91-74 crushing of PUP last Friday, with Leomer Losentes and Martin Ilagan leading the way with 16 points apiece.

In their second playoff match, St. Francis banked again on Ilagan and Losentes, who dished out 17 and 16 points, respectively, as the Doves warded off the Maroons, 75-62, last Saturday at the Olivarez College gym.

It will be the Doves’ 11th championship appearance under coach Gabby Velasco, who had since steered St. Francis to six titles.

Gio Ciriacruz fired a game-high 24 points for the Arrows, while Daroya hit 21 points, including an interception play off JR Rosales and a barreling shot off Alfie Martinez’s assist with 12.6 seconds left.

The Flaming Arrows, with coach Leo Isaac grieving the death of his father earlier in the day, clawed their way out of a six-point deficit, and forced an 83-all tie behind Martinez’s triple with 2:35 remaining in the game, before Daroya came through with his crucial driving shot.

The Patriots were forced into another turnover with less than five seconds to go as Jun Salado hesitated with a basket and came off with a bad pass to Arrows cager Daniel Martinez.

Tylon Darjuan then scored the game’s final basket off Martinez’s fastbreak pitch at endgame, allowing the Flaming Arrows to finish with a four-point victory.