Baby Lancers stay perfect
Baby Jaguars deal Dragons first defeat in CESAFI
Defending champions University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers staged a scoring rally bridging the third and fourth quarters to pummel the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Baby Panthers, 78-60, and stay perfect in the 18th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) men's basketball tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
Explosive playmaker Gabriel George Cometa rifled 19 points, while Joshua Yerro and Mar Leandro Actub churned out 14 markers apiece as the Baby Lancers remained as the only undefeated side in the juniors division with a 3-0 card.
The Baby Panthers were actually in the thick of the fight in the first half, gamely overhauling an early 18-25 deficit and even took a 42-39 lead with four minutes left in the third canto.
But Cometa, Samuel Melicor, Dave Basalo and Albert Sacayan engineered a tide-turning 20-5 blast to put the Baby Lancers ahead for good, 63-50, at the final 6:46 mark of the contest.
The closest the Baby Panthers could come was at 56-63 as Samuel Melicor scored on a buzzer-beating put-back, Actub made five straight points, before Beirn Anthony Laurente and Sacayan nailed backto-back 3-pointer daggers in a 15-4 run that iced the 18-point romp.
Neon Chavez netted 15 points, while John Maglasang and Kyle Ochavo finished with 10 markers each but their efforts went in vain as the Baby Panthers suffered their second loss in three starts.
Earlier, Matthew Paras dropped 19 of his 24 points in the final half as the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars rallied to a 77-70 triumph over the previously undeafeated Cebu Eastern College (CEC) Dragons.
Paras unloaded 11 points in the fourth quarter where the Baby Jaguars outpointed the Dragons, 25-17, to raise their win-loss mark to 3-1.
Kevin Guibao contributed 15 points, while Keith Co poured in seven of his nine points during a decisive endgame assault that keyed USJ-R's victory.
Rauric Panimdim scattered 22 points while Ivan Ares notched 17 markers but to no avail as the Dragons saw their two-game winning come to a sudden red stop.