Altas slip past Stags, tie for lead

PERPETUAL Help standout Earl Thompson sustained his fiery play and rookie Ric Gallardo made sure that his teammate’s effort wouldn’t go down the drain yesterday.

The rejuvenated Thompson fired a game-high 26 points, but it was Gallardo who knocked in the game’s biggest shot as the Altas slipped past the San Sebastian Stags, 82-79, for their second victory in the 90th NCAA basketball tournament at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Sent into the game after Justin Alano fouled out, Gallardo proved to be a revelation in a tight endgame, picking up the rebound after Thompson missed a three-pointer then buried the follow-up just in time to beat the shot clock and shatter a 79-all deadlock with 19 seconds remaining.

The 17-year-old neophyte from Bataan later grabbed the rebound off Jeric Fabian’s miss on the other end, before splitting his free throws for the final count as the Altas pinned a first loss on the Stags, who fell to 2-1.

Those three points in the dying seconds turned out to be Gallardo’s entire output for the game.

“I just told him (Gallardo) to focus on defense and rebounding and he delivered,” said a relieved Altas coach Aric del Rosario. “But we got lucky in this game.”

Buoyed by their torrid outside shooting early on, the Altas led by as many as 21 points and enjoyed an 18-point bubble at the half.

But the Stags came storming back with CJ Perez, Jovit Dela Cruz and Bradwyn Guinto spearheading a third-quarter surge that brought San Sebastian within two, 59-61.

The Stags looked poised to complete the tremendous turnaround when Jamil Ortuoste scored eight straight points to push the San Sebastian lead to 77-71.

Harold Arboleda kept the Altas in the game with four straight points, before Thompson tied the game at 79 with a fastbreak layup with 1:10 remaining, after the 6-foot-5 Gallardo blocked Bobby Balucanag’s layup.

Sidelined by injury for most of last season, Thompson is making up for lost time, following up his 27-point explosion against Mapua with another stellar offensive game despite being hobbled by foul trouble in the second half.

Thompson accounted for three of the Altas’ seven triples in the first quarter, where Perpetual Help scooted to a 23-2 advantage set up by a 15-0 run to start the game.

“I just wanted to come back stronger this season because I did not play a lot last year because of injuries,” said Thompson, who shot 11-of-15 from the field.

The scores:

PERPETUAL HELP 82—Thompson 26, Arboleda 19, Baloria 18, Alano 6, Dizon 5, Dagangon 5, Gallardo 3, Oliveria 0, Bantayan 0, Sadiwa 0, Jolangcob 0.

SAN SEBASTIAN 79—Ortuoste 22, Guinto 18, Dela Cruz 16, Perez 8, Fabian 4, Aquino 4, Balucanag 3, Calisaan 2, Yong 2, Costelo 0.

Quarters: 31-13, 47-29, 61-59, 82-79