Bombers gain 4th spot, blow Altas in OT

MANILA, Philippines - Byron Villarias and John Lopez provided the offensive spark in overtime as Jose Rizal University turned back Perpetual, 64-57, to vault into fourth spot and boost its Final Four bid in the 87th NCAA seniors caging at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

Villarias knocked in five of his 11 points in extension, including a clutch shot-clock-beating triple off the glass, while Lopez scored four of his 10 in the extra period as they combined for a 7-1 run that gave the Bombers a 61-55 cushion with 1:02 left in the contest.

The resurgent Bombers also drew 11 points from Raycon Kabigting and seven markers and 13 rebounds and two blocks from Jeckster Apinan to notch their fourth straight victory and seventh overall in 16 games.

Defending champion San Beda demolished Arellano U, 84-60, to catch idle Letran at second place with 12-2 behind San Sebastian’s 15-0.

The Bombers avenged their 77-79 setback to the Altas (3-13) in the first round and more importantly seized a half-game lead against its two rivals for the fourth and last semis slot – Mapua (6-9) and Lyceum (6-9).

“It was really Jeckster (Apinan) who gave us a huge lift with his rebounding, leadership and energy inside the shaded lane. He’s not scoring that much but his presence, his hustle carried us through,” said JRU coach Vergel Meneses.

“Offensively, it was Byron (Villarias). He hit a big banked shot that when it went in, I knew we would win the game. It reminded me of a similar basket by (Jet) Vidal last time,” added Meneses, referring to Vidal’s off-the-glass trey that sent their first round meeting into extension.

Villarias broke a 54-54 standoff with his lucky shot that touched the board and went in just as the shot-clock expired. Lopez followed this up with back-to-back conversions sandwiching a split by Perpetual’s Earl Thompson (15) to seize a six-point lead going to the last 62 seconds.

Jake Pascual (16 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and one block) and Garvo Lanete (16 markers and five boards) led the way as San Beda posted their second straight win after its shocking 65-75 setback to JRU last Sept. 14.

“You can see the players’ intense desire to play aggressive, pressure defense, something which was glaringly absent during our loss to JRU. We’re still improving on that,” said SBC coach Frankie Lim, who also gained from their transition game (18 fastbreak points) and points off turnovers (16).

Ralph Salcedo (14) and Andrian Celada and Donald Gumaru (12 apiece) led Arellano (5-11).