Rey Suerte (top photo) of Worthy-University of the Visayas is trapped under the basket by two Mighty Sports-University of San Jose-Recoletos defenders during Game 2 of the CESAFI Partner’s Cup Finals Series won by UV. Right photo shows Suerte receiving his MVP and Mythical 5 trophies from CESAFI Commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy and Deputy Commissioner Danny Duran. (CDN PHOTO/ CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
The Worthy-University of the Visayas Green Lancers captured their second straight Cesafi Partner’s Cup title Saturday night after sweeping the Mighty Sports-University of San Jose-Recoletos Jaguars with a hard-earned, 72-68 win in Game 2 at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Lancers trailed by as much as 12 at the onset but grabbed the title with go-ahead free-throws from Liberian reinforcement Bassiere Sackor and Jerome Napao.
UV won the series, 2-0. The Green Lancers also won the championship during the 2014 edition of this preseason tournament.
Budding big man Mike Macion led UV with a huge double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds while Rey Suerte, the tournament’s MVP, had 14 points, three rebounds and three assists. Napao added 13 while Sackor also had a double-double with 12 markers and 13 boards.
Still, the victory was not handed on a silver platter as USJ-R fought until the very end. The Lancers led, 46-35, after an 11-2 blast near the end of the third capped by a gorgeous lay-up by Suerte.
But USJ-R clawed their way back to tie the game at 66-all after a coast-to-coast lay-in by Miguel Gastador, time down to 1:27. Suerte gave the lead back to UV with a pull-up jumper from the baseline but RJ Dinolan tied the count once again with tough fastbreak bucket.
The Jaguars even had a shot at taking the lead but Albert Catiloc missed a five-foot jumper on their next offensive. Sackor was then fouled by Dinolan on a looseball play and the mild-mannered reinforcement, who missed nine of his 11 attempts from the charity stripe at that point, made the first to put UV in front.
Sackor flubbed the second but Napao hustled to get the offensive board. He was then fouled and made both to extend their lead to three, 71-68, 9.3 seconds remaining.
USJ-R’s inbound alley-oop play for Gastador then went nowhere and Tristan Albina made a free-throw to seal the deal.
Tricky Peromingan led the Jaguars with 21 points while Jaybie Mantilla added 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
The tournament’s Mythical Five was composed of Mantilla, Suerte, Sackor, Phinma-SWU’s Mac Tallo and Highlands Corned Beef-UC’s JR Puerto.