Baby Panthers beat Wildkittens anew

CEBU - Power forward Peter Cañete scored 13 of his topscoring 23 points in the fourth period to catapult the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USFP) Baby Panthers to an 81-74 win over the Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) Wildkittens in Game 1 of their best-of-three battle for third place in the 8th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) basketball season at the Cebu Coliseum.

Games tomorrow

(Cebu Coliseum)

Game 1, Finals

5 pm

UV vs. UC (Jrs.)

6:30 pm

UV vs. USJ-R (Srs.)

As of this writing last night, the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors and University of Cebu (UC) kicked off their own race-to-2 series for third.

Cañete almost singlehandedly carried the Baby Panthers to victory. It was actually a repeat performance for the USPF juniors as they also whipped the Wildkittens, 89-83, during their first meeting in the classification round.

James Ferraren and Anthony Arong heavily backed up Cañete on the offensive end with 15 points each, while Jason Batucan banged in 12 markers.

The Baby Panthers controlled the game from start but they have to fight back after the Wildkittens wrested the driver’s seat for a moment. CIT rallied after USPF’s Marvin Demana was whistled for a technical for unsportsmanlike behavior.

Bridrick Brigoli put the Wildkittens on top, 44-43, with 3:30 left in the third period off a foul by Demana. Jeffrey Taghoy split his charities, 45-43, and then Brigoli converted his bonus shot for a 46-43 CIT.

The Baby Panthers were still down by two, 51-53, going into the final quarter, but Cañete presided over a searing endgame attack to bail USPF out of danger.

Taghoy, who also waxed hot in the fourth period, led the Wildkittens with 19 points followed by Brigoli with 16 markers. Mark Jayven Tallo, a promising rookie guard, had 11 points, while Kenneth Getalla and Joseph Nalos had 10 points apiece.

The scores

USPF (81) - Cañete 23, Ferraren 15, Arong 15, Batucan 12, Vergas 6, Caguindagan 3, Silao 2, Lambujon 2, Labares 2, Nudalo 2, Climaco 2

CIT (74) - Taghoy 19, Brigoli 16, Tallo 11, Nalos 10, Getalla 10, Onting 4, Dimitiman 4 Halftime: 37-30  (THE FREEMAN)