USC’s Roosevelt Jelianggao loses the ball against the CIT-U defense in a Cesafi Partner’s Cup game at the USC gym. CDN Digital photo | Jonas Panerio
Cebu City, Philippines—Kurt Trangia bailed the Cebu Landmasters-University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors out from the jaws of defeat as he hit four straight three-pointers down the stretch to help them win over the Tough Gear-Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats, 75-66, in the 2019 Cesafi Partner’s Cup on Thursday, June 20, 2019, at the USC Gym.
The Wildcats were in hot pursuit of their very first win of this tournament and were within a single point, 55-56, when Trangia suddenly started making his outside shots, first hitting a triple to raise USC’s lead to four, 59-55.
Then after CIT-U kept on coming, Trangia drained consecutive shots to bring USC’s lead to eight, 65-57.
CIT-U forward John Jabonete responded with a layup but Trangia was not done yet, making a long three-pointer that barely even grazed the net to raise USC’s lead to nine, 68-59, with just 2:18 to go.
The victory placed USC into a tie with the idle University of Cebu (UC) at the top of the standings. Both teams hold similar 3-1 win-loss records.
Froilan Mangubat continued his torrid scoring in this tournament, putting up 23 points.
Trangia finished with 17 markers, 14 of which came in the fourth canto.
The two guards’ production proved to be crucial as the Warriors’ foreign reinforcement, Sommy Managor, struggled with foul trouble and had just four points.
CIT-U suffered its fourth straight loss, in spite of the 14 points of Mark Christian Kong and the 10 of Jabonete. /bmjo