Sports: Jr. Mustangs Escapes Baby Rams in OT, Defend NBTC-Bacolod Championship Title

It was a ‘battle of heart’ as Dennis Tumayan-mentored West Negros University (WNU) Junior Mustangs bounced back from Saturday’s 62-61 Game 1 loss by sweeping Games 2 and 3 last Sunday and defended its National Basketball Training Center (NBTC)-Bacolod crown against Gerome Aledron’s University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos Baby Rams in overtime, 61-58 at the WNU gym.

Kraniel Villoria, who was also named as “Most Outstanding Player” of the tournament, saved the Junior Mustangs from yielding its title against the Baby Rams by completing a 3-point play with the game clock winding down in the regulation to force overtime.

The Baby Rams had almost the victory at hand on a 55-52 lead with 18 seconds left in the game when its guard Jun King Arriola was called for a travelling and sent back the ball possession to the Junior Mustangs, which gained the opportunity to tie the game at 55-all.

In the overtime, WNU’s Miguel Giurnela nailed a tear drop shot to give the Junior Mustangs the lead in the opening of the extension period, 57-55. But Ramon dela Torre cut the lead to a point after splitting his free throws off a foul from WNU.

WNU skipper Renz Solo-mon extended the lead to 61-56 but UNO-R center John Lorenz Toral sunk a lay-up and cut the deficit to 3 points with 14 seconds left, 61-58.

But as the WNU tried to dribble away with the clock, Jude Fel Junto lost the ball to UNO-R with 4.2 seconds left, giving the latter squad the chance to equalize the game and force another game extension. However, de la Torre only consumed 2 seconds of the game clock when he pulled a long jumper but missed it as Junto secured the rebound and got hacked.

Junto was sent to the line for pair charities but missed both as the two ball clubs battled for possession as the time expired.

WNU rebounded from a Game 1 defeat by beating UNO-R on a large margin in Game 2, 80-50 and equalized the series at 1-all.

Accrding to NBTC-Bacolod commissioner Jake Azucena, the Junior Mustangs will fly to Manila early next month to represent Bacolod in the National Finals. “This team (WNU) will fly to Manila on an all-expenses paid trip plus free accommodation to compete against the country’s top teams.”

On the other hand, the NBTC-Bacolod All-Stars Game is set n Sunday, Feb. 26 at the WNU gym.* (JSGalunanJr/SCOOP-Bacolod)