Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
University of Perpetual Help brought its vaunted defense anew and locked down Emilio Aguinaldo College in a 71-59 win, its sixth straight in the NCAA Season 92 men’s basketball tournament Tuesday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
The Altas have now limited their opponents to under 60 points in five of their last six games.
“Actually, kailangan namin yung panalo. Kahit medyo mabagal takbo ng laro buti naka-survive kami sa slow pace nila,” said Perpetual Help head coach Jimwell Gican, whose squad is tied with Arellano University in second place with identical 8-2 records.
“Kailangan tuluy-tuloy pa rin effort namin especially sa defense. Defense talaga para makapasok kami sa Final Four. Kailangan i-improve pa namin.”
Bright Akhuetie came alive late scoring 11 of his 13 points in the final four minutes and 40 seconds to give the Altas a needed boost down the stretch to put away the Generals.
Akhuetie could’ve easily finished with more points had he successfully threw down a couple of ferocious facials against the Generals’ big men Hamadou Laminou and Sidney Onwubere late in the game.
“Sayang talaga,” the Cameroonian import said of his missed dunks that still managed to draw oohs and aahs from the crowd.
“I just wanted to go hard,” he said with a huge grin.
Gab Dagangon topscored with 18 points while Daryl Singotniko added 17 points for the Altas.
Onwubere, who tried and failed to get under Akhuetie’s skin majority of the game, paced the Generals (3-7) with 16 points but had six turnovers.