From The Wires
Fred Elombi was in the right place at the right time, burying the game-winning basket to cap off Lakas California’s 90-88 come-from-behind victory against De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde in the 2024 ANTA Asiabasket International Championship on Thursday at the Enderun Colleges.
Lakas California, who once found itself deep in a 23-point hole, secured a crucial possession in the final 1.44 seconds of the fourth quarter that allowed them to set up a final play with the game tied at 88-all.
Stephen Pangilinan then issued an inbound pass to an open Elombi underneath the basket as the 6-foot-7 bruiser escaped the defense of Mark Sangco to nail the clincher en route to a 90-88 victory.
Elombi flirted with a double-double effort of 17 points and nine rebounds while also collecting four assists, three steals, and one block to help Lakas California recover from an opening day loss to fellow foreign team National Formosa University yesterday.
Miguel Llanes, whose putback sent Lakas California to an important 86-85 lead, top-scored with 21 markers along with four boards, five swats, and one dime while Raymar Gonzalez and Pangilinan chipped in 10 and nine points apiece.
Crucial was the fourth quarter for the US-based squad as they outscored the Blazers by putting together 39 points on the board while limiting the foes to just 19 after trailing by as much as 23 early in the payoff period, when Angelo Vanguardia sank his freebies to give the Taft crew a 76-53 cushion.
But thanks to Llanes’ 19-point explosion in the fourth quarter alone, and the game-winner by Elomdi, Lakas California pulled off the improbable and improved to an even 1-1 slate in Group A.
“I always knew that we were gonna come back and we were gonna make a run. We were down by 20 and we didn’t have any momentum,” the 19-year-old Llanes said.
“But all my teammates said to keep going and we’re gonna win this game and I had no doubt in my mind that we’re gonna win that game. I knew from the start, even though when times got tough, my teammates had my back and we kept going.”
Benilde, on the other hand, absorbed its second loss in a row despite a total team effort led by John Morales, Jhomel Ancheta, Jesse Arciaga, and Jericho Jalalon.
