ILOILO CITY, Philippines – Team Cebu, bannered by the University of San Carlos (USC) and the University of the Visayas (UV), took the championships of their respective divisions during the Visayas regional finals of the BEST Center SBP Passerelle Twin Tournaments.
USC withstood a fierce endgame rally before defeating St. John’s Institute of Bacolod, 49-44, to claim the Small Basketeers Philippines (SBP) title, while UV cruised to a lopsided 51-37 win over Ateneo de Iloilo (AdI) to grab the Passerelle crown.
For the Baby Warriors, the title wasn’t delivered on a silver platter. Playing with 14 players due to the injured Jholo Pakanna, USC controlled the game for three quarters, only to lose its lead in a fierce rally by St. John’s before finally recovering to seal the deal.
Up by only three at halftime, 24-21, USC leaned on the duo of Neon Chavez and Zurich Joshua Enriquez to build a 36-27 lead after three periods.
But St. John’s wouldn’t cave in easily. They launched a 10-0 run to take a 37-36 lead to start the fourth quarter. After a much needed time out, USC replied with an 11-2 run for a 47-39 edge with two minutes left in the game. St. John’s offense was shut down for three minutes in this stretch. Carlo Jericho Jovellanos had six points in the run while Chavez added four and two assists, both to Jovellanos.
St. John’s cut the lead to 47-42 with 53 seconds left, but Clint Octaviano made it 49-42 with 11 seconds left. Jovellanos dominated the paint with 15 points while Chavez and Enriquez added nine apiece.
In the Passerelle finals, UV banked on a monster third-quarter to settle the outcome of the game early. Up 27-19 after at the bend, UV turned up the level with a big third quarter, outscoring the hosts, 20-4 for a comfortable 47-23 lead. The Baby Lancers found an unlikely scorer in Vance Catague, who drilled all of his seven of his points in the run, while John Diaz and Jun Manzo combined for nine also in the period.
So tight was the UV defense that it limited the Ateneo de Iloilo to a mere field goal and two free throws. AdI bounced back with a huge 14-2 scoring run in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 37-49, but that was all it would score despite UV’s losing its steam and becoming tentative due to the big lead it had built. UV had such a balanced attack that no player scored in double digits. All players except one scored for UV.
Both teams didn’t lack in support with UV team manager Samsam Gullas making the trip to be with the team and USC Principal Sr. Remedios Socorro Aunzo, SSpS cheering from the stands.
Both teams will now represent Visayas in the national finals of the tournament sponsored by Milo. USC will have its hands full against NCR champion La Salle Greenhills (LSGH), Ateneo de Davao and Don Bosco Pampanga, while UV’s opponents are other Passerelle champions in LSGH, Holy Child School of Davao and Holy Angels University of Pampanga.