CEBU CITY, Philippines—The University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters pulled off a huge upset, beating the defending champions University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers, 66-63, in Game 1 of the Cesafi men’s basketball tournament Finals at the Cebu Coliseum here on Tuesday night, December 12, 2023.
With the win, UC leads the best-of-three finals, 1-0, and could dethrone the UV Green Lancers with another win in Game 2 on Thursday.
UC’s win also denied UV a perfect season as the Green Lancers suffered just their first loss of the season.
Jasper Pacaña paced UC with 13 points, while Luther Leonard had 11 markers.
The Webmasters are one game away from winning the Cesafi men’s basketball title which they last won in 2011 when June Mar Fajardo was still playing for them.
Kent Ivo Salarda led UV with a game-high 22 points.
The Webmasters built a 12-point lead, 45-33, in the second half, but the defending champions fought back, cutting the lead to just two, 48-50, heading into the pivotal final period.
The Green Lancers eventually tied the game at 56-all via the efforts of Salarda and Ivan Alsosa.
Alsola nailed the game-tying layup with 4:30 left in the game.
However, Jhiey Paraldo quickly regained UC’s lead after splitting his charity shots. UV answered with a corner jumper from King Orcullo to bring UV back ahead, 58-57.
UC retaliated with a basket from Leonard plus a bonus free throw, giving the upset-seeking Webmasters the lead anew, 60-58.
But the defending champion UV scored on a layup by Raul Gentallan to tie the game at 60-all with three minutes left.
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As time winded down, UC caught UV off guard after Maverick Eligoyo scored a wide open layup to give them a 62-60 lead, in the last two minutes.
UC then made a crucial defensive stop that led to Paraldo scoring a layup to bring their lead to four, 64-60, with less than a minute left in the game.
However UV stayed alive after AJ Sacayan drilled a trey to bring the Green Lancers to within a point, 63-64, with 14 ticks left.
With UC having the ball possession, Roosevelt Jelianggao drove to the basket and pulled up a jumper, but badly missed.
Fortunately, Pacaña came out of nowhere to grab a rebound and scored on a putback for UC’s game winning basket.
UV had the chance to win the game, but Sacayan missed a long distance three point shot, while Salarda’s attempt got blocked sealing UC’s win.
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