San Sebastian head coach Egay Macaraya. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
San Sebastian made a last ditch effort to bid for a quarterfinals spot in the Filoil Flying V Preseason Premier Cup and fended off University of the Philippines, 82-72, Friday at San Juan Arena.
With a 4-3 record, the Golden Stags now hope University of Perpetual Help, 4-2, loses against College of St. Benilde.
A potential triple tie between San Sebastian, Perpetual, and Far Eastern University would see the Altas get eliminated due to scoring quotient and the Golden Stags and Tamaraws advancing to the next round.
Golden Stags head coach Egay Macaraya said his team showed character against UP as they played without injured forward Michael Calisaan, who got involved in a motorcycle accident.
Jerick Fabian was also injured late in the first half when Noah Webb blocked his layup attempt forcing his head into a whiplash.
“Well, I guess they showed character, hindi sila nag give up and everybody stepped up kahit yung mga hindi masyado nagagamit,” said Macaraya.
San Sebastian had four players scoring in double figures with Regile Ilagan having the most points in the bunch with 16 while Alvin Capobres had 12.
Ryan Costelo added 11 points while Fabian finished the game with 10.
Paul Desiderio put up 26 points for the 2-5 Fighting Maroons.