Raffy Dela Peña | FCF

San Sebastian College boosted their campaign entering the NCAA Season 89 seniors basketball Final Four, following an 81-71 victory over Perpetual Help in their playoff match on Tuesday at The Arena in San Juan City.

Leading the way for the Stags was CJ Perez with 20 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. He was then followed by Bradwyn Guinto’s 15 points, six rebounds, and two blocks.

The win gave the Recto-based squad the number three seed and will face Letran College in the Final Four with a twice-to-beat disadvantage.

Despite allowing the Stags to post a 13-point lead during the early stages of the third quarter, the Altas rallied back in the final frame led by Joel Jolangcob, who did the damage on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.

But after Harold Arboleda scored his only points from long distance with 2:05 left in the ballgame, Perpetual Help was the first to blink and failed to score in the final stretch. Perez scored five of his seven points in the fourth quarter during their last push to win the ballgame.

Despite the win, San Sebastian head coach Topex Robinson is still wary of their task at hand against the league’s big boys.

“I always tell these players that it’s all been about the forgotten guys, the no-namers that were never given a chance,” said Robinson. “As much as we wanna celebrate this win and being in number three, we need to improve more ’cause we’re going to be up against elite teams in the league.”

Nick Omorogbe made his return to the Perpetual Help lineup, shooting a sour 4-for-21 clip from the field to achieve 21 points with seven rebounds and two blocks in the loss. Top scorers Juneric Baloria and Harold Arboleda, who scored two and three points apiece, were held to their lowest scoring outputs of the season.