A change in playing venue did not rattle the Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU) men’s basketball team as they connived for another victory to maintain their perfect EVCAA Season 2 bid at the VSU-Tolosa Campus Gymnasium, yesterday, September 16.
Coming off an 84-76 reverse win over the VSU Pythons last week before a fiery Tacloban Astrodome, the Eagles evaded another potential loss – this time, hacking an 85-69 result during the final quarter against the University of the Eastern Philippines (UEP) Buffalos who held the edge for the first three frames.
Team basketball best describes the Eagles’ weekend showing with five players posting double-digit figures in the win.
Christian Carl Mercolita topped the chart as he registered 19 points in 50% field goal percentage alongside 8 assists. Jose Marie Maraviles recorded 15 while Mel John Parungao and Dezeo Villanueva had 14 and 13, respectively. John Paul Tecson also added 10.
“Sobrang saya [namin] na nahabol namin ‘yung lamang ng kalaban at kami pa ‘yung nanalo,” said Parungao in a post-game interview, who also received the Player of the Game nod for his performance.
The Eagles opened their second group stage mission looking energized with a Mercolita fast-break layup right off the bat which the Eagles compounded for a quick 7-2 lead.
But on-court mistakes along with early foul troubles on the defending champs eventually led UEP to find their groove as they nicked a two-point margin to end the back-and-forth opening salvo, 18-20.
EVSU’s offense later looked rattled despite Mercolita pacing his team with ten second-quarter points, as the Buffalos rammed their way towards a dominant 12-point cushion (28-40) thanks to their impressive inside passing and better shot selections, forcing head coach Lyndon Alberca to talk things over with a minute and a half remaining.
The Eagles then regained momentum and fought back to carve a 9-2 run but it was not enough to retake the lead (39-42) as they headed to the second half trailing.
UEP towers Daniel Pait and John Lloyd de Asis continued to display stellar basketball defense against the Eagles, holding EVSU scoreless (39-46) before last week’s Player of the Game awardee Maraviles came to the rescue and helped trim the lead down to one, 55-56. Maraviles poured in six points and an assist in the third.
Staging another second-half comeback similar to their previous win, the Eagles came out swinging in the final quarter with Mercolita sparking a personal 4-0 run in the first 59 seconds to keep EVSU up front, 60-56.
The rest of the pack would keep on attacking on UEP’s uninspired defense with Maraviles and Parungao leading EVSU’s flight, ultimately outscoring the Buffalos 27-13 in the closing quarter as they pulled away for good, 82-69.
With four seconds left on the clock, Maraviles launched a wild bomb from the opponent’s court which beat the buzzer, 85-69, firing up the crowd already in awe of their explosive second-half performance.
The Eagles improve to 2-0 in Group B rankings followed by the RTRMF-DVOREF Praefortes who are next in line to test the defending EVCAA winners’ mettle on September 30.
Article by Patrick Joseph Dincol