Photo from Filoil Flying V Sports Facebook fun page
MANILA, Philippines — Robin Roño knocked down a triple at the buzzer to lift defending champion National University over College of St. Benilde, 70-67, Wednesday in the FilOil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at the Arena in San Juan.
Bobby Ray Parks Jr. attracted a double team before finding the open man Roño, who calmly swished the trey from the right wing — not minding the late challenge put up by Luis Sinco.
“Last play kasi dinouble nila si Bobby Ray, so ako ready lang,” said Roño.
“First of all, to God be the glory. My teammates were looking for me so I looked for them back,” said the two-time UAAP MVP Parks, who flirted with a triple-double with 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
The Bulldogs led wire-to-wire but had a scare when the Blazers knotted the game at 67, on a long two by point guard Dexter Garcia, whose right foot just grazed the three-point line, with only 5.3 seconds remaining that capped a 10-0 run in just a span of over a minute.
“This goes to show that in basketball you don’t really know what’s going to happen in the game,” said NU assistant coach Joey Guanio, who called the shots with head coach Eric Altamirano out to attend to his wife in the hospital.
“We thought we’re in control at the start of the fourth quarter and down the stretch, those [mistakes] at the end shows our immaturity yung three-point shot unsportsmanlike foul. Luckily nandoon si Robin and Bobby Ray was able to recognize the double team right away.”
Jeth Rosario added 14 points and six rebounds but was called for an unsportsmanlike foul on a three-point basket by Mark Romero that sparked CSB’s comeback.
Romero topscored with 22 points to go along with six rebounds.
The Bulldogs (2-0) survived their second straight game after escaping reigning NCAA champion San Beda, 73-71, in the opener.