USC, UV bow to La Salle Greenhills in SBP Passerelle national finals

ROXAS CITY, Philippines — Another Cebu-Manila showdown: So near, yet so far.

This was the common sentiment shared by both the University of San Carlos (USC) and University of the Visayas (UV) after they bowed to NCR powerhouse La Salle Greenhills (LSGH) for the championship of the SBP and Passerelle divisions of the BEST Center SBP Passerelle Twin Basketball Tournament at the Capiz Gym.

In the SBP side, USC started out cold and paid for it dearly, bowing to LSGH, 49-60, while UV lost to LSGH, 77-83, but not before giving the new champs a scare in the endgame.

USC’s cold start spelled the difference for the game as they managed to score only six points in each of the first two quarters. On the other side, LSGH was hot, taking a 16-6 lead after one quarter and a 34-12 lead at halftime.       USC made a run to cut deficit behind Neon Chavez’s 13 third quarter points, 33-42, as the USC defense limited the LSGH side to eight points in the quarter.

The USC rally continued in the fourth period, slashing the lead to seven, 43-50, courtesy of back-to-back baskets by Chavez again. But LSGH was too much as they countered with 6-0 burst for a 56-43 lead to put the game out of reach. Shan Vesagas led LSGH with 14 points while Chavez had 17 for USC.

The UV-LSGH game was a nip-and-tuck affair through the first two periods with the NCR champions taking a 27-21 first quarter lead before UV’s four man set of the second period stepped up to keep the game close at 44-46 at halftime. Then LSGH broke the game open in the third quarter as they jumped to a 69-53 lead going into the fourth quarter. But it wasn’t over yet as UV staged a furious rally throughout the final period, slowly but surely cutting the lead to only three, 77-80, with 39.3 seconds left in the game behind Dave Cabanilla’s 14 fourth period points.

But just as the UV defense was about to force LSGH into a 24-second shot clock violation, LSGH’s Michael del Rosario swished a buzzer beating trey from way beyond the arc with 15.1 seconds left to ice the game.

Big man Carlo Abadeza led LSGH with 15 while de la Cruz had 13 for LSGH. Cabanilla led UV with 20, while Frederick James Pasturan and Joshua Flores had 12 apiece.

“Overall, both Cebu teams went down fighting until the end and there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” BEST Center founder Nic Jorge said. “UV also played handicapped with only 14 players so that’s already an achievement in itself,” he added. (FREEMAN)