Baby Lancers blast Dragons for first win in CESAFI semis

CEBU, Philippines - The University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers snapped out of their three-game jinx in style, crushing the previously undefeated Cebu Eastern College (CEC) Dragons,  79-59, to stay alive in the semifinal round of the 13th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) men's basketball tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.

Versatile playmaker June Kent Manzo rifled 26 points, including eight straight in a 16-1 blitz late in the third period that turned the once close match into a one-sided affair in favor of the Baby Lancers. They then held off the hapless Dragons to only three points in the final five-minute mark of the contest resulting into a stunning 20-point demolition of the league front-runner in the juniors division.

The Dragons actually put up a good fight in the early goings, trailing by only three points, 38-41, but Manzo and Prince Cañete masterminded a fiery uprising that suddenly vaulted the Baby Lancers on top by 17 points, 55-38, with 2:45 left in the third quarter.

Finding themselves stuck in such a deep hole, the Dragons, instead of fighting back with vigor just like what they did in their previous encounter against the Baby Lancers where they overhauled a 10-point deficit in the final two minutes to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, practically threw in the towel this time, opting for a smaller lineup in the final stretch that left the vaunted twin towers of Mark Roa and Alfonso Alviso as mere observers at their bench.

Star guards John Paul Pagalan and Richmond Buli-Buli were also nowhere in sight when their services are needed most by the Dragons. For unknown reasons, the CEC bench transformed them into virtual cheerleaders as coach Mark Tallo went to Denzel Sabroso and Mark Vincent Berdera to tend their backcourt.

But Berdera failed to deliver and Sabroso was a monumental bust, committing a string of errors aside from misfiring his targets from the 3-point land that compounded the Dragons' woes.

The closest the Dragons could come was at 56-67 as Manzo and Cañete, with the help of John Clark Escalona, again put their acts together in launching a vicious 12-0 attack that handed the Baby Lancers their largest lead at 23 points, 79-56, with only 21 seconds left in the gameclock.

Cañete churned out 19 points, while Escalona dn Emmanuel Villamor connived for 21 markers for the Baby Lancers, who finally barged into the win column after a woeful 0-3 start.

Marc Obado was the lone digit-scorer with 14 points for the Dragons, who saw their three-game roll come to a sudden red stop. They pulled off epic triumphs in the first round of semis, including a huge one that ended Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu's 22-game winning streak, but last night, there wasn't any trace of their big-fighting heart as they were off-synch on all facets of the game. (FREEMAN)