USPF’s Niño Ochavo drives to the basket against the USC defense. CDN Digital photo | Jonas Panerio
Cebu City, Philippines—The University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Baby Panthers pulled away late in the fourth to author a 78-68 win over the Cebu Elite-University of San Carlos (USC) Baby Warriors in the 2019 Cesafi Partner’s Cup on Friday, July 12, 2019, at the Cebu Coliseum.
The game was tight after USC’s Walter Yu scored inside to narrow the gap to 66-68 with 2:48 left.
But USPF found their second wind and retaliated with seven straight points — a deuce by Elijah Singson, a three-pointer by Christopher Isabelo and a lay-up by Jack Suelo that came off a nice cut — to go up 75-66 with under a minute remaining.
Later on, Isabelo nailed another three-pointer to hammer the final nail into USC’s coffin.
The Baby Panthers improved to 3-4 (win-loss), thanks to the 17 points of Isabelo and the 13 markers of Antonio Octaviano. Singson and Kyle Ochavo had 10 points apiece.
USC fell to 1-6, in spite of the 16 points of Justin Atilano and the 12 of VJ Baruc. /bmjo