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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