The San Sebastian Stags notched their first win of the ongoing Philippine Collegiate Champions League National Capital Region Qualifiers by downing the PATTS Seahorses 90-67 in Day Two of the tournament Tuesday afternoon, January 16, at the Jose Rizal University Gymnasium in Mandaluyong City.
SSC-R outscored PATTS 28-15 in the second quarter, and it proved to be all the cushion they needed for the wire-to-wire victory. The Stags got key contributions from their bench as Lorenzo Navarro scored 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting, while John Michael Calma registered a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds to his name.
As a whole, San Sebastian was more efficient than their PATTS counterpart, doing better numbers in nearly all major statistical categories, including a 53% shooting clip from the field to go along with 23 assists.
Norman Torreno was the leading scorer with 15 points for the Seahorses, who fell to 0-2 in the Group B standings.
Meanwhile, the CDSL Griffins went on a huge second half rally and erase a 16-point deficit to blow by St. Clare, 87-80, in the day’s Group A action.
Down 28-40 at halftime, the Griffins dropped 59 points in the second half behind the charge led by Soulemane Chabi Yo and Jan Dominic Formento. After scratching and clawing their way back into the ballgame, CDSL finally grabbed a 64-62 lead with 6:31 to play in the payoff period courtesy of a Raymart Sablan jumper and never looked back to cap the comeback victory.
Chabi Yo made his presence felt down low anew, tallying 36 points on 11-for-16 shooting to go with 16 rebounds. Formento complimented the big man’s performance by chipping in 16 points.
Four players scored in double figures for the Saints, but it was all for naught as they came up short in their first assignment of the competition.
CDSL has now clinched a Finals berth by virtue of a 2-0 record in Group A. The do-or-die championship game is scheduled to take place on January 18, Thursday, 3:00PM, still at the JRU Gym where the Griffins will face the number one seed of Group B.
Day Three of the PCCL NCR Qualifiers resumes tomorrow starting at 1:00PM in what should be an exciting matchup when the UP Fighting Maroons go head to head with the San Sebastian Stags, to be followed immediately by the clash between the St. Clare Saints and the host school JRU Heavy Bombers.
You can watch the LIVE stream at Facebook.com/PCCLeague and on Basketball TV (broadcast schedule TBD).
Also, don’t forget to check the league’s official website at collegiatechampionsleague.net for all the latest news, scores, and updates!