San Sebastian vs University of Santo Tomas in the Filoil Preseason Cup. –FILOIL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–In a battle between two teams with packed schedules, San Sebastian used five extra minutes to trip University of Santo Tomas, 100-96, in the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup on Tuesday in San Juan City.
The Stags, who played in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup earlier in the day, unloaded a 13-7 run in overtime to seize a 98-82 lead that sealed the victory over the equally-weary Tigers.
“Of course we played some games in the D-League then we went here for FilOil so we rested some players. Thankfully, they stepped up,” San Sebastián assistant coach Louie Bautista said after the game.
The two teams are not even done yet as both could clash in the semifinals of the PBA D-League.
“We’ll have to improve [our] defense. We had a lot of lapses in transition and we slipped in their off-ball screens. They also had a lot of open shots so we’ll have to work on that, as well,” he said.
San Sebastian clinched a semifinal spot as the top-seeded team in the PBA D-League while UST has a rubber game against St. Clare University Saints on Wednesday.
The Tigers looked to have the advantage in regulation after Bryan Santos gave UST a two-point edge in the last 46 seconds.
But Rhinwil Yambing squared the count at 85 with 9.8 seconds remaining to force extra period.
Alex Desoyo led six Stags in double figures with 13. Rafael Are and Reggz Gabat added 11 each while Yambing, Raymart Escobido and Cris Shanoda had 10.
The guard tandem of Nic Cabanero and Kean Baclaan tallied 16 a piece for UST with Santos registering 14.
San Sebastian is now 2-1 in Group B while UST dropped to 1-2.