NCAA West Shines Over NCAA East On Grey’s Heroics
- Jamil Buergo
- Aug 22, 2015
- 3 min read
The NCAA West All-stars outscored the East All-stars 10-2 in the final minute to pull off an improbable come from behind win, 89-88, in the NCAA’s All Star festivities the Arena in San Juan.
With the East seemingly headed for the win being up 88-81 with less than 30 seconds left in the game, CSB’s Jonathan Grey took charge as he scored back-to-back treys to trim the deficit to one point with 14.9 seconds remaining.
The East team sued for time as they tried to protect their one point lead. West team players tried to foul as quickly as possible to send their opponents to the line. As the West team reached the penalty, an inbound miscue by the East led to a Mark Cruz steal with four seconds remaining. Cruz tried to go for the win with a 40-foot desperation attempt only to be fouled by Jamil Ortouste with only 0.2 seconds left. The fifth year guard from Letran calmly sank his first two free throws and intentionally missed his last as the West players stormed to the court in celebration.
NCAA West team coach Aldin Ayo praised his players after the game. Speaking to members of the media, he admitted he told his players before the game to play defense even if this is just an all-star game. “This is an All-star game. Kaya papangitin natin ang laro.”
Jonathan Grey led the West team with 20 points on 8-11 shooting. He also had 2 rebounds and 3 assists earning him him the NCAA all-star MVP award. Mark Cruz scored 10 points while Mapua’s Allwell Oraeme also had the same point production but added 11 rebounds.
The East team was led by JRU’s Tey Teodoro, who scored all his 17 points in the second half. Jio Jalalon backed him up with 12 points and 2 assists.
Earlier, University of Perpetual Help Dalta’s Lyra Velchez was crowned Miss NCAA besting Rycca Timog of Lyceum and Zahara Mae Soriano of Arellano University. The 18-year old BS Tourism student made it back-to-back Ms NCAA titles for Perpetual.
Before Mark Cruz sealed the win for the West team, he was crowned as the NCAA’s 3-point shootout king earlier as he beat Wilson Baltazar in the finals, 18-9. Cruz scored 26 in the elimination round while Baltazar had 22 as they dethroned last year’s champion Travis Jonson who had 21 points in the elimination.
In the slam-dunk competition, Lyceum’s Jebb Bulawan stole the win from crowd favorite Yankie Haruna of CSB. Haruna, who is serving residency for the Blazers, top scored the eliminations with three great dunks, including a windmill slam that made him the favorite to win. In the finals, Haruna jumped above his 6’5 teammate JR Ongteco but could only score 29. Bulawan on the other hand jumped above his teammate who was seated on a chair also scored 29, which paved way for a dunk-off. Bulawan raised the level of difficulty by calling in two of his teammates and jumping over them for a successful attempt. On the other hand, Haruna failed on his three attempts giving Bulawan the slam-dunk title.
Boxscores:
NCAA West (89) - Grey 20, Cruz 10, Oraeme 10, Gabayni 8, Mejos 8, Munsayac 7, Nambatac 6, Alanes 4, Ongteco 4, Baltazar 3, Saavedra 3, Racal 2, Onwubere 2, Serrano 2, Nieles 0.
NCAA East (88) - Teodoro 17, Jalalon 12, Akhuetie 10, Guinto 10, Ylagan 6, Dela Cruz 6, Calisaan 6, Koga 5, Ortuoste 5, Salado 4, Sorela 4, Dela Paz 2, Abdulwahab 1, Nicholls 0, Dagangon 0.
Quarterscores: 19-14; 41-38; 59-63; 89-88
Check out my NCAA All-Star Day Photo Gallery
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