SAINT Louis University took full advantage playing in their home court as they walloped Baguio College of Technology and force a rubber match in the semi-finals of men's basketball of the Baguio-Benguet Educational Athletic League season 28.
The Navigators scorched one of the Atoms’ twice-to-beat advantaged pulling out a convincing 89-64, lopsided victory at the SLU Prince Bernhard gym Monday afternoon.
Alvin Ray Dumuk led the Navigators with a double-double performance dishing out 21 big points and tallying a total of 13 rebounds, while teammate Fergal Bugayong added 15 points after dropping five out of six three-pointers.
SLU rallied the first quarter with a 19-9 edge against the visiting BCT squad and never looked back since as the Atoms shot only four field goals for the entire period.
The Navigators continued to lead BCT by as much as 17 points in the second period with Dumuk joining force with Bugayong and Emerson Javier, who finished the game with 14 points, coming out from the bench for a 44-28 lead going into the second half.
The Atoms managed to improve their field goals in the break of the third canto as Jervie Calivo together with Roy Pulac and Jayson Pasag trimming the lead, 49-43, with 4:00running down the ballgame but was unable to sustain the momentum as SLU continued to deliver the damage with Bugayong and Jonas Gesmundo forcing a 61-48 lead going into the pay-off canto.
"We are thankful we are able to force a rubber match schedule against BCT, playing in home court really uplifted the boys to perform better this time again," SLU coach Raymund Austria said.
According to Austria they, will have to ready themselves in their next match-up as they expect the Atoms to go all out as they battle for the second finals seat.
"We should not be too confident, we have to carry our momentum next game for we know the other team is not yet playing in their best condition," Austria stressed.
Calivo, despite playing with a very poor shooting percentage, closed his performance with 18 points, Pulac added 17, while Pancog dished out 11 including three three-pointer in the first half.
The winner between BCT and SLU in semi-finals series will face defending champion University of Baguio Cardinals, who went straight ahead to the finals after sweeping the eliminations with 8-0.