Thursday, April 19, 2018

STI College Global still unbeaten

 STI College Global City - Remember 2015.

Remember 2015. That is the battle cry of STI College Global City as they would like to make everyone remember that they are the first team to win the inaugural STI National Basketball tournament back in May of 2015. At the same time only a few remember an 18-year old rookie from Global City who made it to that year’s Mythical team and he is the big difference in the resurgence of the former NBT kings this year, that former Mythical selectee is fourth year forward Mike Jefferson Sampurna.



 Mike Sampurna on the drive

Mike Sampurna resurrected his former self, the 2015 version, and more than made up for a year’s absence as his rebirth carried the Global City squad to their eighth straight victory as they came from behind to beat a hard fighting STI College Caloocan team 90 - 87. The resurrection of a once proud tradition, the Global City squad relied on the veteran savvy of Sampurna as he led a team of seven rookies to the National Finals and is positioning themselves to a return to the top as they notched their first win in the National finals.


 Paul Laysico scores on the reverse

STI College Caloocan caught up with STI College Global City in the fourth quarter as they played catch up with the returning national finalists for three quarters which ended with Global City up a notch 63 – 61. Andreas Schmidt and Andre Castillo combined for eight points to give the team from  Caloocan a 69 – 66 lead which was their biggest lead at that time. Suddenly the Global City team was shell shocked and cannot buy a basket. Their running game checked and the experience of the Caloocan team becoming a factor since they have been in the Nationals for the third consecutive year. Global City simply had no answer when the momentum suddenly shifted Caloocan's way.

 Andre Castillo scores under the goal

STI College Caloocan was already ready to celebrate their first win in the Nationals with Castillo, Basti Berceño, Jomar Salazar and Toby Atienza hitting their marks, STI College Caloocan raced to an eight point lead 75- 67 with 3:30 left and was still up with 3 minutes remaining 77 – 69 until Mike Sampurna happened. Sampurna sparked a remarkable 21 – 10 counter run in the last three minutes as he scored 12 of his 38 points in that period to lead his team to victory.

Sean Tabudlong blocks Nickael Patricio 

In that three minute period, Sampurna and back-up forward John Jeffrey Atlobulan scored back to back three pointers to pull them to within three points, 85 – 82 with still a minute left. Basti Berceño scored Caloocan’s last field goal to give them more separation 87 – 82 and more breathing room with 54 seconds left. But, unwilling to bow down quietly, unwilling to quit, Sampurna and Atlobulan once again combined to score four points as Atlobulan got the missed free throw of Sampurna from a three point play and scored under the basket to cut down the Caloocan lead to only one with still 42 seconds left.


 John Atlobulan twists in mid-air to score two

After that play, STI College Caloocan called its last time-out but unfortunately muffed the next play as Berceño missed his chance top put the game away. Global City got the ball back and Sampurna was then fouled as he went hard to the basket with 19 seconds to go. Sampurna sank both his free throws to finally reclaim the lead 88 - 87 as the never say die Global City squad suddenly became hyped up because Sampurna sparked their comeback. In the next play Nickael Patricio was forced to a turn-over  that virtually sealed the game for the former kings as Atlobulan, who backed up Sampurna with 21 points, iced the game with two more free throws.


 Sampurna beats the buzzer as he sank this shot

Sampurna and Atlobulan, both battle scarred veterans,  showed their young counterparts how it is done. In the time that they were down and cannot convert and score a point, Mike Sampurna  2.0 emerged and he summoned his old champion heart to will his team to victory. There is no quit in his vocabulary.  STI College Global City is on track to get back to the top once again if only they can continue their run, if only their rookies and veterans can create great chemistry, if only their team can remember how it was in 2015.



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