Thrillers galore in college basketball

BOTH the UAAP and NCAA basketball tournaments are churning out thrillers to the delight of the basketball republic. The Letran Knights leaned anew on Rhenz Abando’s heroics to overcome the vastly improved Perpetual Altas, 77-75, to advance to the NCAA Finals on Sunday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

After firing a team-high 24 points punctuated by two dunks and three threes of telling significance, Abando, formerly a UST star in the rival league UAAP, said: “I don’t want to be a bridesmaid again, I don’t want to finish a runner-up again.”

Abando, UST’s cornerstone in the Glowing Goldies’ losing stand against Ateneo in the UAAP Finals just a while back, left the Espana-based university for Letran in 2020 just as the pandemic started ravaging the world.

Relax the Knights cannot against title-hungry San Beda, the perennial champion until Letran ended the Red Lions’ reign last year.

San Beda roared back from what looked like a sure defeat, scoring a come-from-behind 73-67 overtime win over Mapua, also on Sunday.

The win, engineered by the terrific trio of James Kwekuteye, Peter Alfaro and the spitfirish Ralph Penuela, came after San Beda erased a 10-point deficit midway into the final quarter.

It was a heartbreaking loss for Mapua, its twice-to-beat bonus dissipating into a knockout match against San Beda on Wednesday.

Over at the UAAP, the University of the Philippines scored an improbable 81-74 overtime win over defending champion Ateneo to move to within a game of ending a title drought in nearly four decades.

To win, the Fighting Maroons had to overhaul an 8-point deficit, 68-60, with 4:35 to go.

Ricci Rivero’s timely three-point play and a terrible triple by James Spencer sparked UP’s victory that, for all intents and purposes, removed all doubts that the Maroons’ recent win over the Blue Eagles was a fluke.

Spencer’s trey came off an inbounds pass from Gian Mamuyac that slipped off the hands of the 6-foot-10 Ange Kouame – one of 26 atrocious turnovers that Ateneo had committed.

Ateneo’s mere four overtime points also largely contributed to UP’s win – a result of the Maroons’ choking defense all night long.

Can UP do it a second time against the threepeat champion Ateneo on Wednesday to complete its first crown chase since 1986?

Can UP do it a second time against the threepeat champion Ateneo on Wednesday to complete its first crown chase since 1986? AL S. MENDOZA, Columnist