Undefeated from start to finish, DECA 8990 ruled the the Next5Hoops Metro Manila 1st South Leg Qualifier, winning the coveted championship last Sunday.
DECA 8990 gave its campaign the fitting ending, but first needed to overcome a tough 3W Builders, 104-102, before it could wrap the perfect season up.
Down 8 with a little over five minutes to go, DECA 8990 unleashed an 12-4 run to tie the game at 91 then fended off any attempt from 3W Builders to wrest the lead back in the final three minutes.
The game was knotted anew at 102 with just 14 ticks remaining but DECA 8990 turned to its freethrows as Jepoy Vito Cruz missed the final heave for 3W Builders as the time expired.
Chris Dalaten carried DECA 8890 in that pivotal stretch, scoring 10 of his team’s last 23 points including the freebie that froze final score with two seconds left.
Datalen shined with 35 points including four triples on top of eight rebounds for DECA 8990 in a night where teammate Mark Orias was also named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Orias finished with an impressive triple double of 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists—three coming in the last five minutes of the game—for the champions of the tournament organized by One Unite Sports.
DECA 8990 struggled to crack the game open in a see-saw contest but got to taste a double-digit lead, the biggest at 73-60, in the third quarter.
The team had a lot of help with two other starters in BJ Faundo and Mark Madera contributing 21 and 16 points, respectively and the latter added 11 rebounds.
3W Builders gave DECA 8990 all it could handle, repeatedly wiping off any attempts to turn the game into a rout, but could not get the breaks down the stretch.
It started the fourth as strong as it had ended the third and push the lead to 87-79 on a 14-4 blitz before DECA 8990 dealt them the finishing kick.
Exequiel Panares was hot as usual, this time dropping 28 points and 13 rebounds for 3W Builders while Mathew Riel had a breakout game with 26 points.
It was a respectable finish for 3W Builders, which just finished at no. 3 in pool 2 before racking up solid victories en route to the Finals.
