THE UNIVERSITY of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers reasserted their mastery of the SHS-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles and snagged the championship in the SM-NBTC Cebu League with a 92-83 win in the finals, yesterday at the rowdy Talisay City Sports Complex.
The Baby Lancers led by as many as 24 before weathering a huge comeback attempt by the Magis Eagles in the fourth, to nab the win, the title and the fourth seed in the NBTC National Finals on March 19 to 23 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Magis Eagles, winners of the Cebu leg in each of the last four years, are still headed to the nationals but will be playing as the eighth seed.
Jhiey Paraldo led the way for UV with 17 points and six rebounds while young phenom Steve Nash Enriquez came off the bench and sizzled for 15 markers.
After leading 19-15 after the first, the Baby Lancers started to pull away midway through the second as Froilan Maglasang canned a three-pointer, Beirn Laurente and Enriquez made transition buckets and Laurente connected on another triple to give UV a 39-24 lead.
It eventually ballooned to 50-33 at halftime.
However, the battle-tested Magis Eagles refused to give in easily and rallied to within seven, 78-85, after a three-point play by big man Alex Visser.
But UV kept its cool and sealed the win by seven free-throws in the last minute of the game.
Visser paced Ateneo de Cebu with 15 points and seven rebounds while Patrick Yu and Jed Colonia had 14 each.
In Division 2 action, the Center for International Education Lions upset the reigning champions, PAREF Springdale Titans, 56-54.
James Gica donned’ the hero’s cape for the Lions as he scored on a floater with 1.1 seconds remaining that lifted the Lions to the win and a spot in the Regional Finals.