La Salle-Dasmarinas’ title bid came to an end on Monday as it suffered a 76-71 loss to Colegio de Sta Monica in the Final Four of the 9th Universities and Colleges Athletic Association basketball tournament at the Olivarez Sports Center in Paranaque City.
Needing to win to force a rubber match for a berth in the finals, the Patriots went on a big third quarter run by erasing a 14-point deficit behind ace scorer Marlito Escobal and Bryan Igtiben but ran out of steam in the payoff period to bow out.
The loss ended the title hopes of the Patriots, who made the UCAA semifinals for the first time since placing second to Emilio Aguinaldo College in the 2005 finals.
Escobal, a former member of the two-time NAASCU champion San Sebastian-Cavite, led the team with 23 points with center Rudy Onde hitting 14 markers. Igtiben had 11 points while guard Harold Vinluan added 10 in a losing cause.
The Cavite-based cagers even took a slim 62-60 lead on Igtiben’s two freethrows with 7:50 left in the game but lost steam the rest of the rest of the way as the Cougars came back behind the efforts of Dave Villadores, John Orbeta and John Flores.
A Villadores trey pushed Sta Monica’s lead to 71-65 lead with 2:30 left but the Patriots made a last ditch comeback moving within 74-71 with 24.4 ticks to go.
Igtiben had a chance to tie the game but made an ill-advised three-point attempt off a tight defense by the Cougars. His shot, a high-arching one, sailed nowhere before two charities by JB Ferreria settled the final score.
DLSU-D finished the eliminations with a 4-6 record to beat Philippine School of Business Administration for the No. 4 spot. The Jaguars registered just three wins in 10 games.
The Patriots clinch a semis berth by beating Technological Institute of the Philippines, 72-67, a week ago at the Palaruang La Salle gym after preventing the Engineers from climbing back from an 18-point halftime lead.
In that game, Escobal combined with point guard Sam Plameras to score 20 points each while Onde added 19 markers.
Flores had 16 points while Orbeta added 14 points for Sta Monica, which will face either Olivarez College or TIP for the last finals berth.
The Patriots will meet the loser of the TIP-Olivarez semis duel in a Battle for Third match on Friday.
The scores:
STA MONICA 76 – Flores 16, Orbeta 14, Villadores 11, Ferreria 8, Alquisalas 6, Guillen 6, Faundo 5, Montilla 5, Webb 2, Santillan 2, Rosal 1, Jasmin 1.
DLSU-D 71 – Escobal 23, Onde 14, Igtiben B. 11, Vinluan 10, Fordan 5, Igtiben M. 4, Marquez 4, Genova 2, Plameras 0, Medavillo 0, Elic 0.
Quarters: 17-23; 36-34; 58-57; 76-71.
