CEBU, Philippines - The University of San Carlos (USC) SBP and Passerelle teams scored their second straight wins to barge into the championship of the Visayas Regional Finals of the BEST Center SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament at the Iloilo Sports Complex in Iloilo City.
In the SBP division, USC ousted Colegio de la Purisima Concepcion (CPC) of Roxas, 40-29, to take solo leadership of the four-team regional finals with a 2-0 win-loss record.
After another slow start where they fell behind 6-5, the Baby Warriors opened up a 21-14 halftime lead before extending this to 32-16 after three quarters.
With the win, USC booked a ticket in the finals although they still have one more game to play against University of St. La Salle (USLS) of Bacolod.
In other SBP games, Ateneo de Iloilo toppled USLS, 43-34, while USLS stopped CPC, 53-20. USLS needs to defeat USC to set a date with the Cebu champions for the SBP title.
On the other hand, the USC Passerelle side hardly broke a sweat as they trashed College of St. John’s Roxas (CSJR), 84-30, to also top the team standings at 2-0 and arrange a showdown for the championship with the USLS of Bacolod, which also went 2-0 after wins over Ateneo de Iloilo (43-34) and CSJR (84-30).
AdI and CSJR face off for third place.
The Visayas Regional Finals of the BEST Center SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament is backed up by Milo. The champions from here will qualify for the national finals which will be held in San Fernando, Pampanga on November 23-24.
La Salle Greenhills punched the first ticket to the national finals by winning the SBP division of the Metro Manila leg, while Chiang Kai Shek topped the Passerelle division.
Next up for the 28th edition of the tournament that is also held in cooperation with RCBC Savings Bank, is the Mindanao regionals finals which will be played in Davao on October 26-27. (FREEMAN)