Visiting teams North America and Thailand captured the championships in their respective divisions in the PSL Global Championship Challenge on Sunday at the Filoil-EcoOil Centre.
North America’s 2008 squad went through the proverbial eye of the needle, battling back from 10 points down in the closing stage, then holding off Philippines-Pampanga to just six points in the fourth period to complete a come-from-behind 67-66 win in a thrilling finale.
Enrico Bungar capped his solid performance all game long as he completed a double-double showing of 18 points and 13 rebounds, while also coming up with the go-ahead basket as North America, represented by NABA Intercity, clinched the title.
Bungar’s short stab with 54 seconds to go served as the winning basket for North America, which dodged two attempts from Chester Tulabut and Leodyl Hilot.
Jagger Versoza led the way for North America with 23 points, four rebounds and seven assists while Dominic Tuason contributed 12.
Over at the Born 2006 division, Thailand-Traill International School coached by Filipino mentor Troy Umali, ran roughshod over Canada, 120-83, as Jespher Kurihara completed a triple-double performance.
Facing a Canada team that pulled off a huge upset win over top seed Philippines-Cebu in the semifinals on Saturday, Thailand turned to its 1-2 punch in Kurihara and Don Wayde Basadre in dumping its rival.
Kurihara exploded for 38 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out 10 assists as he simply saved the best for last.
He hit 10 three-point shots, the most made by any player in the tournament.
Basadre, on the other hand, contributed 35 markers, but capped his big game as well by dishing out 14 assists for another double-double show.
