BABY LANCERS, 1-0
UV keeps cool, drawing first blood in best-of-3 race for glory vs. SHS-AdC
The University of the Visayas Baby Lancers stayed composed all throughout the game to draw first blood in the best- of-3 finals series and moved a step closer to regaining its lost glory. It earned a 69-59 win over the defending champions Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles in Game 1 of the 2017 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) high school division championship last night at the Cebu Coliseum.
It seemed that the Baby Lancers had their last game only last Sunday as the rust of the threeweek layoff did not affect their sharpness and hustle. They affirmed that their 61-58 win last Aug. 20 over the Magis Eagles was not just by chance.
UV’s focus was as sharp and its squad went for extra passes to beat the Magis Eagles in their usual department, 19-10.
And despite their height disadvantage, UV could not be kept from dominating the rebounds, 46-41, which resulted in a 16-10 edge in second chance baskets.
It took SHS-AdC more than four minutes before scoring its first point of the game, courtesy of Jed Colonia, with the needed combined outputs of Christian Manaytay, Patrick Yu to trim down a 14-point UV lead, 26-12, down to a 28-34 deficit at the close of the first half.
However, despite the momentary collapse of UV, it took the Magis Eagles almost the entire third period to take the lead for the first time, 46-44, at the 50.5, before the Baby Lancers reclaimed it on Jim Paul Amistoso’s drive that ended the penultimate quarter, 48-47.
UV then dropped a 9-2 run early in the fourth period to regain its momentum, while SHSAdC’s final push was a 5-0 spurt, to cut down the lead to 54-57.
Amistoso and Joshua Yerro then presided over a telling 12-2 attack that towed UV to safety with a 12-point lead, 69-57, a minute and 50 seconds remaining in the game.
SHS-AdC’s final basket was given by Joshua Fuentebella 16.3 seconds before the final buzzer.
Beirn Laurente topscored for UV with 14 points, Yerro had 11 points and 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Amistoso also had 11 points and Jheiy Paraldo added 10 points. Cristian Manaytay scored 13 points on top of 10 rebounds, Patrick Yu also had 13, and Colonia contributed 11 points.
Meanwhile, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars copped the third place tro- phy after beating the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors 8569 earlier.
Miguel Gastador scored 18 points, Ralph Dinolan added 15 and Nelvin Navarra finished with 12 for USJ-R while John Reel Saycon made 20 points, Malcolm Tan contributed 15 and Kevin Oleodo scattered 11 points for the Warriors. /