MICHAEL CALISAAN came up with his best performance so far to lift San Sebastian College past Letran, 74-69, and into the stepladder semifinals of the 93rd National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament on Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Calisaan uncorked a career game he highlighted with a clutch three-pointer that gave the Stags a ticket to the first phase of the stepladder semifinals against the No. 3 Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers on Friday in the same venue.
The scrawny 6-foot-6 Calisaan scored a season-high 36 points, beating his previous high of 35 he registered two seasons ago..
“I want to win and enter the Final Four because in my four years, I haven’t played there,” said Calisaan, who also pulled down 10 rebounds.
Calisaan got a huge help from pocket-sized Ryan Costelo, who scattered 13 points—nine in the fourth quarter.
It was also Costelo’s floater over the outstretched arms of a bigger Bong Quinto that shattered a 69-all deadlock and gave San Sebastian a 71-69 lead with 44.9 seconds to go.
Jeo Ambohot, who scored the game-winning putback in Letran’s 70-68 win over Arellano University in a knockout playoff game last Friday, missed a three, allowing San Sebastian’s Jim Calma to pluck the rebound.
The win was a fitting birthday gift for San Sebastian coach Egay Macaraya, who turned 51 on Tuesday.
“Hope this will start something big for us because it really showed the team’s real character,” Macaraya said.
In junior’s action, St. Benilde-La Salle Greenhills claimed the last spot in the Final Four after it routed San Sebastian, 108-82.
The Junior Blazers thus forged a Final Four duel with the San Beda Cubs, who topped the elimination round to clinch the top seeding and the twice-to-beat edge, on Friday at the same venue.
No. 2 Mapua faces off with No. 3 Letran in the other semis pairing, needing just a win to advance to the best-of-three finals.
Jeremiah Taladua went on a three-point shooting binge to help propel Letran to a 47-39 lead midway in the third canto.
But the Stags trimmed it to just a point at the end of the third quarter, 54-53, before RK Ilagan started the last period with a three-pointer to give his team a 56-54 edge.
The Stags started out strong and seized a 16-7 lead on a triple by Calisaan.
The Knights fought back and closed the opening quarter with a 9-2 exchange to cut their deficit to just two points, 18-16, at the end of the period.
It was the lead San Sebastian held entering the halftime break, 32-30.
Image credits: Alysa Salen