CEBU, Philippines - Jason Olbedado split his charities in the final 1.4 seconds of the contest and that was all he needed to lift the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) to a 85-84 cliffhanger over the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats in the 12th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) men's basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Wildcats gamely erased a 27-40 halftime deficit and even took the driver's seat, 61-60, only to be spoiled by Olbedado's winning free throw that was too painful for Wildcats coach Gilbert Demape to accept.
Before the final horn, Demape rushed into referee Ado Balongoy, who made the last call for a foul by Wildcat Franklyn Batiquin against Olbedado.
Demape blamed Balongoy for the loss, saying that his players have done their best only to be spoiled by what he perceived as an erroneous decision by the referee.
Whether or not to sanction Demape his actions, CESAFI commissioner Felix O. Tiukinhoy, Jr. said he has to evaluate the case first basing on Balongoy's report.
For his part, Demape told The FREEMAN that "I confronted Balongoy, holding his arms and shaking him, to ask why he made that call when it was supposed to be a let-go situation? My players wanted to win and the crowd wanted a good game. Had it gone to overtime, then I don't know how to define what good a game is."
Had the match went into extra period, the Wildcats have had a big chance of scoring an upset as USJ-R's offensive threats Abulaiz Suliman and Renato Abing were already fouled out.
Olbedado finished with 12 points, but it was Sulaamn who topscored for USJ-R with 21 points. Miguel Tabaloc chipped in 17 markers.
In the secondary games, defending champion University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers mauled the USJ-R Bay Jaguars, 91-49 to stay undefeated in seven starts, the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Baby Panthers demolished the Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC) Greywolves, while the University of San Carlos (USC) Baby Warriors escaped with a 78-72 win over the University of Cebu (UC) Junior Webmasters.
The scores
USJ-R (85-) - Suliman 21, Tabaloc 17, Capillar 14, Olbedado 12, Abing 9, M. Parker 4, C. Parker 4, Regalado 4
CIT-U (84) - Dimco 25, Rabaya 13, Taboada 13, Palileo 12, Brigoli 9, Batiquin 6, Taghoy 2, Pono 2 Halftime: 40-27 (FREEMAN)