FUSION outhustled defending champions Bio-Fresh+ in overtime, 78-68, at the start of the Architects + Engineers Basketball Club Davies Paints Cup 2017 last Saturday at the University of San Carlos gym.
The game was another chapter in the colorful and oftentimes fierce rivalry between the two teams that have battled for the title in each of the last four conferences of the AEBC.
Saturday’s game was no different as Fusion found their second wind in the extra five-minute session after BioFresh forced overtime with three clutch free throws from big man Elmer Laguna in the dying seconds of the fourth.
Ahead by three with time ticking away, the ball got whipped to a waiting Laguna at the left wing. As he shot, the referee blew his whistle on Fusion’s Niel Benedicto who got called for a foul with just 2.7 seconds left. Laguna calmly made all three to tie the count at the end of the fourth.
However, Fusion dug deep and earned the win behind clutch makes from newcomer Kyle Esbra, who led the team with 21 points. Benedicto had 15 markers and was a monster on the boards with 26 rebounds.