Maglasang banks ‘Hail Mary’ shot to bring UV to juniors hoops finals

UV wingman Froiland Maglasang is mobbed by coaches and teammates after hitting an improbable three pointer from halfcourt that sent the Baby Lances straight into the finals.
contributed Ron Tolin

In a moment that will forever be etched in University of the Visayas (UV) basketball lore, Froiland Maglasang banked in a three pointer from just across midcourt as time expired to give the Baby Lancers a pulsating 74-73 win over the University of Cebu (UC) Baby Webmasters in the 17th Cesafi high school basketball tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.

Making the shot even sweeter was it gave UV an outright ticket to the championship round as it completed a nine-game sweep of the elimination round.

Beirn Laurente led UV with 20 points while Jhiey Paraldo added 14. JJ Rosete struggled with foul trouble all game and managed just 10 before eventually fouling out with 7:07 left in the game.

Maglasang had just seven points, but it was his last shot that would prove most telling.

UV trailed by as many as 10 points but recovered to take a seven-point lead, 53-46, at the start of the fourth. UC tied the game at 71-all after a putback by versatile big man Virlou Orquez with 40.9 seconds to go.

UV missed its chance to retake the lead after Roosevelt Jellianggao bungled a pass. Orquez was fouled and split his free throws to put UC in front, 72-71, with 19.5 seconds on the clock.

After Laurente flubbed his layup attempt, Kyle Ordeniza was fouled and sent to the line where he made the first but missed the second. Fortunately, Allan Pelegrino grabbed the offensive board and kicked it back out to Orquez, who was again fouled with just 5.3 ticks left.

But Orquez missed both from the line to set the stage for Maglasang’s miraculous shot from just after the midcourt line.

Orquez scored 31 for UC, which fell to 4-4 (win-loss).

The Baby Webmasters seemingly had the win in the bag had it not been for their atrocious free throw shooting, which included four misses off six attempts inside the last minute of the game.

In the first game, the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles closed out their elimination round with a 70-49 rout of the Cebu Eastern College Dragons.

The Magis Eagles will now wait for the winner between a knockout match of the third and fourth ranked teams at the end of the eliminations. Ateneo de Cebu will be armed with a twice-to-beat advantage against whoever that team would be.