USPF rules CYBL under 18 tourney

CEBU, Philippines — The University of Southern Philippines Foundation dug deep to score a come-from-behind 77-69 win over Sisters of Mary School-Boystown to bag the championship of the Cebu Youth Basketball League Under 18 tournament at the USPF Gym over the weekend.

SMS-Boystown started hot, controlling the game and putting up a 33-18 lead midway through the second period, the biggest in the game. USPF then slowly but surely crawled its way back to the game slicing the deficit to 36-47 by halftime.

It was a steep climb of a rally for USPF as SMS-Boytown maintained leads of as many as nine points through most of the third period, the last at 51-43.

The Baby Panthers then unleashed a 13-0 run that caught SMS-Boystown flat-footed, with Kline Ochavo drilling the go-ahead triple for a 52-51 lead that stretched to 56-51 before SMS-Boystown would find a basket, 56-53 at the end of the third period. USPF went on a 6-0 run to kick off the fourth period to enjoy its biggest lead at 62-53.

SMS-Boystown made one last run at USPF, pulling within just two, 66-68, 2:35 left. Jose Ramon Achacoso, John Ernie Gellego and Grant Saberon replied with a 7-0 counter to settle the outcome, 75-66, 28 seconds remaining.

USPF leaned on a balanced attack with Grant Saberon leading the team with 16 points. Gellego and Ochavo had 15 each as Achacoso added 12. C-Jay Gonzales led SMS-Boystown with 23 points. Ivan Cabodbod and Mike Laurence Dellava had 10 points apiece. Both teams were undefeated prior to the game after sweeping its respective groups in the classification round with 4-0 slates. USPF out-steadied SHS-Ateneo de Cebu in the semifinals, 51-44, while SMS-Boystown dumped Compre, 69-33, in the other semifinals game.

Next up for the CYBL is the MYBL, a partnership between the CYBL and the MVP Sports Foundation. This fires off in October and will have four age groups: Under 18, 15, 12 and 10. (FREEMAN)