Saturday, September 15, 2007 Wildkittens claw meek at Webmasters, 84-82
THE Cebu Institute of Technology Wildkittens earned another lease in life when it pulled off a come-from-behind bashing by defending champions University of Cebu Baby Webmasters, 84-82, yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
Luckily for the Baby Webmasters, since they are enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage being a top two team going into the quarterfinals, they still have a chance to redeem themselves and snag a ticket to the semifinal round in the rubbermatch today.
Down by 18 points in the third quarter, the Wildkittens made a huge recovery in the crucial fourth canto behind the Carl Almario Jeffrey Taghoy and Kane Borinaga, to finally be at par with the Baby Webmasters, 74-all with just 2:59 in the game clock.
The three were at the forefront of the Wildkittens’ assault as they initiated a searing 24-18 run that put the game into deadlock for the first time.
CIT finally tasted the lead when Clint Gerali halved his charities, 75-74, and never looked back from there. UC only managed to get tangled with CIT in two more deadlocks before succumbing to the Wildcats’ newfound strength.
Borinaga and Gerali sealed the Webmasters’ coffin as they scored the game’s last six points in the final 40 seconds of the game.
Gerali topscored for CIT with 17 markers, while Taghoy had 16. Leymund Babad carried the scoring cudgels for the Webmasters with a game-high 21 pointers.
Meanwhile, University of Southern Philippines Foundation Panthers shortened their agony as they advanced to the semifinal round after thwarting Don Bosco College in a lopsided 96-60 victory.
The Baby Panthers wanted to get the job done early that they restricted the Baby Greywolves to just six points in the first period.
Today, another quar-terfinal match will take place at the same venue.
Number four team University of the Visayas Baby Lancers face University of San Jose Recoletos, which is ranked number five after the elimination round with the Lancers enjoying a twice to beat edge.
