Visiting Al Ain team Kabayan Gents Tailoring registered a 116-110 overtime win over Ican Customised Apparel in Jazzville Basketball League at the Jumeira Baccalaureate School Dubai on Friday night.
Kabayan Gents Tailoring capitalised on their superb outside shooting and employed suffocating defence in the fourth quarter to erase a 21-point deficit and win the game in the extra period.
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Centre JR Ng-Sang led the Al Ain-based hoopers with 34 points and got a boost from former PBA (Philippine Basketball Assoiciation) player Jonathan Fernandez who added 21, including five triples. Edwin Manabat, Roy Cayanan and Gilbert Neo contributed 15 each while Jonjon Madamba finished with 11.
Former pro player Sonny Toring paced Ican with a game-high 36 points, followed by shooting guard Jeff Roque with 18 while Arnold Aguila, Jayson Araneta, Gani Mercado, and Jeric Serdenia all registered 13 markers each.
Ican were in control in the first three quarters. Aguila, Araneta and Mercado dropped a pair of triples each while Toring and Alwyn Flores dominated the shaded lane to give Ican a strong start and an eight-point cushion, 32-24, after the first 10 minutes.
They remained in the driver’s seat in the second quarter and pulled away in the third frame after Aguila completed a rare four-point play, off a foul from Manabat, to give Ican a huge 21-point lead, 84-63.
But Kabayan Gents were not stunned and picked themselves up. They unloaded a series of three-pointers coupled with tough man-to-man defence to wipe out the deficit and grab the lead for the first time, 94-93, after Cayanan scored on a strong drive to the basket with only a minute left in the regulation period.
Ng-Sang added another point after splitting his free throws but Serdenia tied the scores at 95-all before Manabat made it 97-95 in favour of Kabayan Gents with only 14 seconds remaining.
Serdenia then sent the game into overtime after making his two free throws but Ican ran out of gas in the extra period before Madamba and Fernandez dropped a pair of triples each to secure the win for Kabayan Gents.
“We never felt threatened even though we were down by 21 points,” Kabayan Gents player-coach Jason Umali told Sport360.
“We just patiently executed our offence and played tough match-up defence to bounce back and win.”
For his part Jake Celocia said: “It was tough luck we squandered a big lead but fatigue caught up with us and we never had any substitution in the extra period. We started strong but we did not finish strong.”
Scorers:
Kabayan Gents Tailoring 116 – JR Ng-Sang 34; Jonathan Fernandez 21; Edwin Manabat 15; Roy Cayanan 15; Gilbert Neo 15; Jonjon Madamba 11; Jason Umali 3; Ian Ignacio 2
Ican Customised Apparel 110 – Sonny Toring 36; Jeff Roque 18; Gani Mercado 13; Jeric Serdenia 13; Arnold Aguila 13; Jayson Araneta 13; Alwyn Flores 4
