CEBU, Philippines - Andres Paul Desiderio churned out 23 points, while Gerald Fernandez made all of his 15 points from the 3-point land as the reigning CESAFI Juniors champion University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers escaped with a 73-71 win over the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles in an exhibition game the other night in the municipality of Cordova.
Desiderio highlighted his game-long brilliance with 10 straights points in the third period that gave the Baby Lancers their largest lead, 60-47.
The Magis Eagles, however, responded with an 18-8 blitz to pull within just three points, 65-68, with less than five minutes left in the contest.
After a series of ball possessions, Desiderio scored anew to gieg the Baby Lancers a 70-67 edge, but the Magis Eagles squared the count at 70-all on a 3-pointer by Arnie Padilla, son of former PBA cager Ronilo Padilla, with 1:38 left to play.
It was the fifth and last triple by Fernandez in the final 54 seconds that helped decide the outcome of the match.
The Magis Eagles actually had a chance to send the game either into a 73-all stalemate or steal the win with a three-point play just after Henric Ochea split his charities, 71-73, with 37.4 seconds to play because they were able to gain the last possession of the night.
However, a nice set-up play orchestrated by Rendell Thomas Senining to an open teammate at the post did not materialize as the UV bench celebrated at the final horn.
Senining was the biggest factor of Sacred Heart's comeback with his accurate assists and a couple of daring drives to chip in nine points. It was Ochea, however, who topscored for the Magis Eagles with 19 points.
In the Cordova Fiesta Inter-Barangay tournament, Gabi advanced into the semifinals following a 74-69 victory over Alegria in the SK division.
The scores
UV (73) - Desiderio 23, Fernandez 15, Santillan 9, Dela Cerna 8, Dinolan 8, Cañete 5, Yuson 4, Cabanilla 2, Suan 2, Bernedo 2, Manzo 1
SHS-AdC (71) - Ochea 19, Galvez 12, Senining 9, Chan 9, Fabian 8, Laguyo 7, Beduya 6, Igna 6, Jaboneta 2, Competente 2 (FREEMAN)