DARK horse team 2008 Cottonseed forced a deciding Game 3 in the 22nd Sacred Heart-Ateneo Alumni Basketball Athletic Association (Shaabaa) after beating 2009 Crossfit Subtero, 72-61, in Game 2 in the Division C Finals series held last Sunday at the Magis Eagles Arena in SHS-AdC Canduman Campus.
The sixth-seed Batch 2008 gained leverage in the second half as they caught the defense of Batch 2009 napping, for a 43-30 blast in the final 20 minutes.
The game was fought evenly in the opening quarter but Crossfit began to assert its supremacy in the second and closed the first half with a 31-29 lead.
However, Cottonseed was determined to live another day and went to take over the game from the younger batch in the final 20 minutes en route to scoring a 12-point win. They evened the best-of-three finals series at 1-1.
Crossfit-Subtero defeated Cottonseed 70-58 in Game 1 held last Wednesday.
Emil Gabuya played like a man possessed as he scored the game high 32 points from a 16-of-20 shooting from the field, including three-of-three clip from the three-point area.
Ed Acuña was the other Batch 2008 player to score in double digits with 12 points.
Joseph Ian Roma and Aljun Villarias, on the other hand, scored 12 points each for Batch 2009. (RCM)