THE LA SALLE Greenhills dashed the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu’s hopes of taking home the national crown as the boys from Manila walloped the locals, 66-51, in the championship game of the SBP division of the 32nd Milo SBP Passerelle National Finals yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
Lorenzo Competente proved to be the biggest thorn on the side of Ateneo de Cebu as he led La Salle with 25 points, nine rebounds and four steals. James Ison added 11 markers.
Stephen Cutamora led the scorers for Ateneo de Cebu with 15 points to go with nine boards and two assists. Jared Bahay finished with 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots.
La Salle set the tempo early as their pressure defense led to easy baskets for a 23-9 first period lead.
With La Salle’s defense targeting Bahay, the local boys were powerless to respond and fell behind by 22 at halftime.
Ateneo de Cebu came to within 13, 41-54, after a make by Renzo Zanoria but that was as close as it got as La Salle Greenhills sped off to the win its third straight crown in this division.
In the Passerelle division, San Beda College completed the sweep for NCR as it pulled away in the second half to take down the Holy Child School from Davao, 68-51.
Joshua Lazaro paced San Beda with 12 points and seven rebounds