BIO-FRESH+ outlasted the defending champions, Mortaflex, 71-66, in overtime Saturday to become the new titleholders in the Architects + Engineers Basketball Association Davies Paints Cup at the University of San Carlos gym.
In a thrilling finale reminiscent of their lone elimination round encounter which also went the distance, Bio-Fresh came out on top behind the dominant performance of power forward Ayi Armenion who bullied his way down low and lit Mortaflex up with 38 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.
Armenion was eventually named as the conference and finals MVP.
Still, it was an uphill battle for Bio-Fresh as Mortaflex recovered from a sluggish second period with a 17-9 run in the third that helped them take 10-point lead which eventually settled at 44-39 heading to the game’s final chapter. From that point onwards, the two teams traded buckets resulting in a 58-all count.
Mortaflex had a shot to retain their crown as they had a two-on-one break with the ball in erstwhile league MVP Ed Macasling’s hands and Bio-Fresh two-guard Brian Acebedo in front of him. Macasling started to make his move but Acebedo stuck his hand to impede the latter. No foul was called, leaving the Mortaflex bench howling in disgust as the game went to overtime.
In the extra session, Bio-Fresh took advantage of the fouling out of Macasling to author the huge win.
Kim Rebosura had 12 points while Acebedo added 11 for the victorious squad.
Macasling led Mortaflex with 21 points and five boards.
Meanwhile, third place honors was won by Megacryl500 which beat Sun & Rain, 102-83. Loreniel Tequin and Joseph Escober formed an awesome twosome for Megacryl as they scored 26 and 20 points, respectively, with the latter pulling down 10 boards.
Named to the conference’s Mythical Five were Armenion, Macasling, Tequin, Mortaflex’s Niel Benedicto and Sun & Rain’s Mike Cinco.