Ateneo de Cebu’s Jose Cruz (center) defends a Don Bosco cager in their semifinal match in the BEST SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / Dexter Lim
CEBU CITY, Philippines— The SHS-Ateneo de Cebu barged into the finals of the Small Basketeers of the Philippines (SBP) division after they outlasted Don Bosco Technical College Cebu, 40-37, in overtime in the semifinals of the BEST SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament sponsored by Milo on Wednesday, August 21, 2019, at the Ateneo de Cebu basketball courts located along General Maxilom Avenue.
It was a hard-fought win for Ateneo de Cebu, which battled back from a double-digit deficit and appeared to have the win in the bag in regulation after Keenan Rasmo canned two straight triples to shove them into the lead, 35-31, with 3:21 to go.
However, Don Bosco fought back to tie the game at 35-all after AJ Prudenciado hit a three-pointer of his own and made a free-throw with under a minute to go in the fourth to knot things up at 35-all and send the game to overtime.
In the extra session, Ateneo de Cebu took over as Henry Suico scored off a gorgeous up and under move, which was followed by a free-throw by Ben Ong and a basket by Kyean Gubat to push the Magis Eagles in front, 40-35, with 1:36 remaining.
Gubat led Ateneo de Cebu in scoring with 12 points.
Ateneo de Cebu will be facing the University of the Visayas in the finals of the SBP division.
Meanwhile in the Passerelle division, the University of San Carlos edged Southwestern University-Phinma, 44-42, in another overtime game.
John Luis Borres was the hero for the Baby Warriors as he came up with a steal off an inbound pass and scored a layup with five ticks left to give UV the victory, their second in as many games.
Agamemnon Allosada led USC in scoring with 12 points while Sebastian Versoza had 11.
SHS-Ateneo de Cebu also pushed their record to 2-0 with a 73-34 crushing of Don Bosco.
Michael Asoro had 15 markers while Rezald Dacalos canned 10 for the Magis Eagles. / celr