Joseph Sedurifa drilled in three straight triples to lift the Makati Super Crunch past the Manila Stars, 78-73, in overtime and into the North division finals of the Chooks-to-Go/MPBL Lakan Season before a stunned full house crowd at San Andres Sports Complex on Friday.
The triples shoved the Super Crunch ahead, 78-73, with 1:17 left, dimming the cause of the Stars, who won the series opener (77-74) only to lose Game Two (75-59) and last night’s decider.
It was a game really meant for the Super Crunch as they could have won outright in regulation, only to find out that Joshua Torralba’s triple missed the buzzer by a fraction of a second and got nullified for a 67-67 count.
Despite the ruling, which was decided aafter over five minutes of review by technical and league officials, the Super Crunch kept their composure and played with conviction.
Especially Sedurifa, who Makati coach Beaujing Acot considers as the team’s take charge guy.
According to Acot, “Sedurifa can see the court as wide as the coaches” and he was right.
Sedurifa showed no fear at clutch time, burying the jumpers that broke the backs of the Stars, who surged ahead, 17-7, in the first quarter, only to be overtaken by the Super Crunch, 36-30, behind the efforts of Jong Baloria, Cedrick Ablaza and Rudy Lingganay.
The Super Crunch forged a best-of-three title duel with the San Juan Knights starting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday at The Arena in San Juan.
“Savior, it’s the right word for Sedurifa. He’s our savior in Makati, in Bulacan, siya talaga,” said Acot.
Baloria scored 16 for Makati, followed by Sedurifa with 12, nine in extra time, and Torralba with 11.
Manila, backed by Frontrow, got 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists from Chris Bitoon; 15 points plus 10 boards from Mike Dyke and 15 points plus nine boards from Aris Dionisio.
Manila’s top gunner Carlo Lastimosa left the court after just 1 minute and 8 seconds due to a foot injury.
Bitoon dropped seven points in a 12-3 burst that pushed the Stars back on top, 56-52, before Vincent Importante scored underneath for Makati to end the third quarter.
It was a see-saw battle in the fourth quarter, marked by five deadlocks and five lead changes.