Araw-araw takes charge

SWEET shooting guard Arc Gabrielle Araw-Araw took charge when everything seemed hopeless to lead the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles to an 80-76 win over the University of the Visayas Baby Lancers in Game 1 of the best-of-five championship series of the 2012 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) High School Basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum last night.

Araw-Araw scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter that helped the Eagles weather another brilliant performance from the reigning MVP Andres Paul Desiderio, who scored the game high 31 points for the Baby Lancers.

UV was heading for the win after Desiderio scored at the 3:21 of the fourth quarter that gave the Baby Lancers a 73-66 lead.

Time was running out and SHS-AdC was staring at defeat when Araw-Araw anchored a searing 9-0 run for the Magis Eagles to snatch the lead, 75-73, with 1:46 remaining to play.

Desiderio tied the game at 76-all for the last time following a floater at the final 50.6 seconds but Araw-Araw once more scored on a lay-up that gave the Eagles a 78-76 lead with 13.7 ticks left to play in the game and never looked back.

“As a playmaker, I need to ensure that everybody will get the chance to touch the ball on offense or I could deliver the needed points for my team. On that last shot I made, I got the opportunity for that lay-up when they left me wide open. Defensively, we put a lot of pressure especially in the fourth quarter because we were trailing most of the time,” Araw-Araw told Sun.Star Cebu after the game.

Rendell Senining and Fletcher Criss Galvez helped SHS-AdC after scoring 14 and 10 points, respectively, while helping Desiderio were Escalona who scored 11 and Jun Kent Manzo III, who tallied 10 points.