Tuesday, December 05, 2006 It's Blue v. Black in 'Club 92' final
DEFENDING champions Red Dragons lost their title-retention bid -- the hard way, squandering a 7-point lead with less than 3 minutes left against the Black Spiders.
"It was such a painful loss in our part kay amo na ang momentum pero unsaon ingon ana man gyod ang dula," said Roderick Pacturan, easily Red Dragons' heart and soul and MVP in the last conference of Club 92's inter-color tourney.
The Spiders' come-from-behind 91-87 win on Tuesday thus earned for them the right to face Blue Panthers in a best-of-3 final, which already started last night at Macasandig covered court.
"There were some instances that we almost gave up pero suwerte pa gyod nga nakabawi. Hope that our lessons in the semis will motivate us in the final against Blue," said playing coach Andy Calingin.
Luckily enough, the unpredictable Calingin was a big part of Black's sudden uprising in the decisive period after being terrorized by Red's backcourt wizardry behind the two-guard rotation of Jomar and Menciano plus the inside baskets of Butch Helmida.
With Black's defense gradually improving, Calingin drove twice hard to the baskets in a daring attack that seemingly shaken Red's confidence.
From there on, the Spiders slowly built their way up to a successful comeback.
"Now we know how to play our game," quietly mumbled Encarnacion whose bruised courage was compensated by Yparaguirre and Lumayno's inspired play. A bit listless in their previous stints, the Yparaguirre-Lumayno duo went on to combine for 32 points to go along with JB Tagarda's 27 markers.
The Dragons got twin-digit figures each from Helmida (21), Menciano (19), Pacturan (16) and Variacion (15) in their heartbreaking finish after pulling the rags from under Black in the semis opener.
