Arcan Team Manager Pol Blanca’s finals slump is finally over. It was the team’s first crown to end a seven-year drought, beating tough Fahd Alireza Engineering Consultants B team 97-88 to complete a 2-0 sweep in the best-of-three finals in League B Division in the Eastern Province Basketball League at Ittifaq Club Gymnasium here Friday.

It was Arcan’s first title in three trips to the finals. Blanca and Best Coach awardee Jun Maratas this time built a solid run-and-gun team. They outscored FAEC in transition with a 24-12 margin and applied a constant full court pressure and held on to the end.

The Consultants, trailing at the half, 44-56, stormed back in the third quarter with Robin Santiago and Arnold Arguilles firing at both ends on a 12-2 run that cut the deficit to 75-74 entering the last canto.

Both teams engaged in a shootout in the ensuing minutes, but defensive stops allowed Arcan East West to grab the final advantage down the stretch. After a bucket from Julius Eleazar put Arcan ahead, 88-86 with 2:20 remaining, the Consultants failed to score on a transition that Santiago could not handle, while Mark Tamayo continued his brilliance in isolation plays and a Benjie Labitorya three-point play sealed the win for East West.

Tamayo got the nod for MVP with 24 points and eight rebounds, mythical team member Julius Eleazar had a game high 25 points on a 5-of-7 three-points shooting, Labitorya had 13, Noy Credo added 11 points, while playmaker Mike Juanite chipped in 11 points for the champs.

Santiago led Consultants with a game-high 33 points, Omar Asmad had 22, Eugene Santos had 12 points and Arguilles 10 points.

Meanwhile, in another championship game, Al Ittifaq Steel Products Company held on for a 98-95 victory against Star Saipem to clinch the Intercompany B crown.

After leading by 78-60 in the third period, ISPC lapsed into a maze of errors in the last canto and shot below 30 percent, Saipem stormed back to close in at 90-89 in the last two minutes of the game.

In the waning minutes, Mark Darwin Mayana’s layup and Gerald Mendoza’s two free throws gave the Steel Giants a 94-89 lead they would not surrender.

Rey Millena raised the MVP trophy with a game-high 19 points, while big brother Mark added 17 points, Deejay Valmosena had 14, and Joel Avero, Gerald Mendoza and big man Nixon Lorenzo had 10 points apiece for ISPC. Star Saipem was led by John Supan with 21 points, while Adrian Matala had 19 points and Simeon Ferrer 15.

Meantime, EPBL will organize its 2014 2nd Conference dubbed FAEC Cup. Interested teams may e-mail [email protected] for more details.