NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-Nazareth School (NUNS) pulled off a gutsy 91-90 double overtime thriller over Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu to keep its “three-peat” drive alive in the Smart-National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) National Finals presented by SM on Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.
RJ Colonia dropped 29 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals—including the game-sealing freebies with 5.9 seconds left to put the Bullpups up by four points.
Jared Bahay banked a three-pointer to cut the lead down to one, but the clock was just not on the Magis Eagles’ side.
“I told the boys to hold on, that’s character-building,” said NUNS coach Kevin de Castro as his side advanced to the championship game.
It was a classic matchup between NUNS’ Reinhard Jumamoy, who tallied 23 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and six steals, and Bahay, who shot five treys for his 23 points, five assists and four rebounds as the two proved why they’re the top young playmakers in the country today.
Elijah Yusi also stepped up for the Bullpups with 21 points as the back-to-back defending champions get the final chance to stop rampaging Fil-Nation Select USA in the finals Sunday in the same venue.
Michael Asoro played big for SHS-Ateneo with five triples for 27 points and six rebounds—including a corner triple that sent the game into the first overtime, while Raffy Celis had a double-double of 16 points and 10 boards in this tough yet valiant loss.
Fil-Nation Select-USA beat University of Santo Tomas, 74-66, to become the first international team to make it to the championship game.
Caelum Harris finally flashed his potential and uncorked 12 points and three rebounds, while Jacob Bayla got 11 points and three boards.
Fil-Nation Select, though, still had to use an 8-3 run to finish the game capped off by a Sean Alter dunk in the final minute.
It also survived Mark Llemit’s 27 points on 4-of-5 clip from deep, to go with four rebounds, four steals, and two assists.