Grandslam for UV Lancers Prime Asia sweeps San Marino Tuna to rule Enervon Partner's

CEBU, Philippines - With or without their Cameroonian twin towers, the Prime Asia Lending-UV Lancers are truly a powerful force to reckon with on the hardcourt.

Parading an all-local crew, Prime Asia went on to sweep the San Marino Tuna/CIT-U Wildcats in their best-of-three finals series anchored on a masterful 85-67 victory in Game 2 to rule the Enervon CESAFI Partner's Cup 2013 basketball tournament last night at the Cebu Coliseum.

It was UV's third consecutive Partner's Cup crown under coach Felix "Donbel " Belano, Jr. and second straight with Prime Asia Lending as its chief corporate backer. They also won the title in 2010 when the Green Lancers were still backstopped by Lion Tiger Katol.

"I'm happy and proud for this grandslam feat, but this is just the beginning of a tougher challenge ahead because our main target really is the regular CESAFI season," said Belano, a record-holder in Philippine basketball for being first and only player to record a quadruple-double in a single game. "The good thing is that my players have already jelled with each other. The eagerness and confidence are already there. I just hope this is the start of the good things to come for us."

So dominant the Lancers were that they no longer needed the services of their prized recruits from Cameroon in Steve Cedrick Akomo and Mike Harry Nzeusseu, who seemed to have enjoyed their roles as the team's chief cheerleaders at the bench.

Prime Asia's crafty playmaker John Michael Abad maybe the smallest man on the floor, but stood the tallest of them all after he romped off with the MVP trophy. He was joined in the elite Mythical Five by his UV teammates Wowie Escosio and Chris Perolino together with Vincent Menguito and Allan Dimco of San Marino.

Abad finished with only seven points, including a 3-pointer that gave Prime Asia a 41-25 advantage at halftime. Prior to that, he was 0-of-6 from beyond the arc. It did not matter though as he claimed the most coveted award in the end, proving that height, at times, is not always the proverbial might in basketball.

San Marino actually was in fighting mood early on, forcing a 15-all deadlock at the end of the first period on a buzzer-beating shot by Julius Tabalin. They, however, suddenly ran out of gas and couldn't slice the deficit down to a single digit when UV had already established a huge lead.

The closest San Marino could come was at 36-46 as UV regained a comfortable 16-point edge at 57-41 cushion. San Marino ran out of bullet in the final quarter, enabling Prime to mount their biggest lead at 22 points, 74-52, on a 12-2 blitz at the final 5:27 mark of the contest.

Perolino topscored for Prime Asia with 19 points, Escosio had 12 and Angelo Babia chipped in 11 markers.

Flloyd Taboada paced San Marino with 11 points, while Clyve Limalima and Alan Dimco each scored 10. The missing link was Menguito, who was handcuffed to a paltry two points. 

UV Lancers now train their sights on a tougher task representing the Philippines in men's basketball of the 27th Summer Universiade on July 6-17 in Kazak, Russia.

The scores

Prime Asia (85) - Perolino 19, Escosio 12, Babia 11, Abad 7, Mendoza 7, Codilla 7, Oktubre 6, Cabañero 6, Marquez 5, Fajardo 5, 

San Marino (67) - Taboada 11, Limalima 10, Dimco 10, De la Cerna 8, Batiquin 7, Tabalin 6, Bucao 5, Brigoli 3, Polo 3, Graf 2, Menguito 2 (FREEMAN)