By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Pola Pilipinas RPG leaned on a huge finishing run to upset the Macau Black Bears Mustangs, 72-69, in the finals of The Asian Tournament Passi leg at the City of Passi Arena in Iloilo province’s Passi City on Monday night, May 27.

Down 59-63 with over five minutes in the game, Pola’s Jose Nouchanthavon converted a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 62-63 before they took a 64-63 advantage on an inside hit by Henry Iloka.

Nouchanthavon drilled another three-pointer to extend Pola’s lead to 67-63, but Mustangs’ Alex Cabagnot answered with his own triple to cut the deficit to 66-67, but Pola’s Jayvee dela Cruz drilled a three-pointer to widen the edge to 70-66.

Nouchanthavon split his free throw for a 71-66 edge, but the Mustangs threatened to within 69-71 on a free throw by Oscar Lopez and an inside connection by 7-foot-3 center Sam Deguara.

Nouchanthavon once again split his free throws for a 72-69 advantage over Pola Pilipinas.

Macau still had a chance to send the game into overtime, but Deguara misfired on his two three-point attempts at the buzzer.

Nouchanthavon emerged as Player of the Game for Pola Pilipinas as he finished with 18 points, on 6-of-10 field goal shooting, to go with three rebounds and two assists in the leg finals.

Pola Pilipinas head coach Ricardo Cawaling said their Passi City leg championship was a good bounce back for the squad after failing to score a victory during leg 1 in China.

“Sobrang proud ako sa team na ito. We are family here. Natalo kami sa China, 0-5, so ito ‘yung parang redemption namin, and nagbunga naman,” Cawaling said.

“Ibibigay pa rin namin ‘yung best namin sa mga next legs,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Zamboanga Valientes fell short of clinching the bronze medal following a lopsided 98-66 defeat to Hong Kong’s Vanta Black Dragons in the battle-for-third place game.

Joe Allen was named Player of the Game for the Dragons after finishing with a double-double of 25 points and 25 rebounds to go with two assists./ASC, WDJ