FOR the second straight season, De Ocampo Memorial College is entering the championship round of the Sta. Lucia-Land NCRAA.
On Tuesday, De Ocampo survived the Andre Paras-less AMA Online, 108-106, at the PATTS Gym.
Behind the solid games of Nino Macasling and Dahrell Caranguian, who finished with 26 points apiece and the solid contribution of its bench players, De Ocampo was able to topple the top-seeded Titans in their knockout semifinal round encounter.
Johnard Clarito added 22 markers for De Ocampo, which lost the finals of the NCRAA best-of-three series to Colegio de San Lorenzo last year, 2-1.
Caranguian and co. vowed to do whatever it takes to finally win the big one of this season’s event supported by Sta. Lucia Land, Max’s and Bread Talk with LGR as the official outfitter.
“I think we’re hungrier this year. Gutom kami nu’ng isang taon pa kaya mas malaki gutom namin this year,” added Caranguian.
Paras, the much-celebrated player of AMA, who just returned from a severe ankle sprain, missed the all-important game because of a prior commitment.
In his absence, Genmar Bragais and Owen Graham presided over the offense, combining for 49 markers.
Graham’s bucket in the last 22 seconds shoved AMA to within three, 107-104, then Carlo Garcia came through with another quick basket after forcing a turnover, allowing the Titans to threaten with 11 seconds left on the clock.
The Titans were forced to foul to stop the clock, sending Caranguian to the foul line with only three seconds to go.
Caranguian missed the first and intentionally muffed the second charity, but his teammate, Clarito, was able to snare the offensive rebound. Clarito split his charities for the final tally.