Old School put the pedal to the metal in the final minute to overrun SDL (Satwa Development League) All Stars 57-53 and lift the Jazzville Basketball League Cup at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Old School were up 12-8; 23-21; 36-33 in the first three quarters but they couldn’t break the game wide open as SDL All Stars kept the game close and even enjoyed a brief one point lead, 42-41, in the middle of the fourth period.

Both teams fought tooth and nail with the match decided only in the final minute when Old School’s Michael John Fajardo broke the 46-all deadlock with his two free throws. Then Tommy Lagunsad made a steal off an inbound play by SDL and went straight to the hoop to put Old School on top by four, 50- 46, in a brief span of eight seconds.

In the next play, Ronel Maranan responded by making his two charities to keep SDL near, 50-48, but Old School, despite being composed mostly of above 40-year old players, employed a full court press to force SDL to commit costly errors which they converted into points from the free throw line.

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Lagunsad, who was adjudged MVP (most valuable player), took care of the business in the closing seconds by making five of his six attempts from the penalty line while Ian Samoy also sunk his two charities. Lagunsad led all scorers with 13 points while Samoy finished with nine.

Old School coach Arnel Fernandez said: “We were actually the underdogs because of our age but we were more aggressive throughout the match and we gave whatever was left in our tank in the final stretch to win the Cup.”

SDL had the early momentum but failed to deliver after making costly turnovers and coach Ryan Suba said: “We had a couple of chances to pull ahead late on but we made bad decision and we were hurrying our shots.”