Chris Hubilla played through pain as he steered San Beda University in storming back from a 25-point deficit against University of Perpetual Help System DALTA, 96-87, and the Red Cubs regained their winning ways in the NCAA Season 98 juniors basketball tournament on Monday.
Hubilla went down with a bleeding mouth in the 4:18 mark of the fourth quarter after an inadvertent elbow hit from Perpetual's Jan Pagulayan, but he still came back to finish with a game-high 25 points alongside 11 rebounds and three steals.
With the win, the Red Cubs snapped their two-game losing skid and improved to 3-3 while the Junior ALTAs dropped to a similar 3-3 card.
San Beda, who previously lost to College of Saint Benilde-La Salle Green Hills and Mapua University, trailed by as many as 25 in the first half but Hubilla, who was limited to just four points in the first two quarters, fueled their rally as they trimmed their deficit to just three heading to the fourth, 72-69.
With Hubilla, Jharmaine Leccioners, and team captain John Lopez powering their offense through a 15-4 run to open the payoff period, San Beda built an eight-point cushion, 84-76, before Henry Montemayor brought Perpetual to 87-83 disadvantage with two freebies.
After he was attended to by the medical team, Hubilla returned to the court and drilled back-to-back baskets that basically sealed the come-from-behind victory for San Beda, 96-85.
Lopez chipped in 24 points, three rebounds, and three steals while Lecciones and Andrei Dungo chimed in with 16 and 12 markers apiece.
San Beda takes on Arellano University while Perpetual will face San Sebastian both on Wednesday.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
