THE University of San Carlos lived up to their moniker and showed everyone why they are called the Warriors. Because they never give up.
The USC Warriors were at death’s door in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. a little shove and they could have been gone. However, they put up a fight simply by refusing to accept their doom when they handed the once invincible University of the Visayas Green Lancers another bashing, 80-77, yesterday at the overflowing Cebu Coliseum to level the championship series 2-2.
Because of this, the Cesafi will have its longest series ever in seven years as it is forced to play a deciding fifth game.
With their six championship titles seriously hanging on the line, the Lancers came into the game pressured for a seventh straight crown. On the other side of the court, the Warriors, plunged into action with lesser tension.
“We were not pressured at all. We had nothing to lose,” said USC head coach Jay Ramirez after the game.
Pressured or not, the Warriors, who all came from their respective finals exams, played with so much hunger for the win, that they challenged the Lancers in a neck-and-neck battle at the start and overturned UV’s lead to their side with an 8-0 run to close the first period, 22-18.
From there, USC dictated the game’s tempo, outscoring the bigger Lancers, 41-32 in the second frame peppered by the three- pointers of Giovanni Padillo, Paul Joven and Carlo Padayao.
In the third quarter, when the Lancers usually wake up from their slumber, things instead got worse for them as the Warriors zoomed to their biggest lead, 51-35, as the dynamic duo of Niño Ramirez and eventual Most Valuable Player Enrico Llanto initiated the 10-2 run in the opening of the penultimate period.
Adding more problems to the UV offense is the disqualification of reliable shooting guards Ritchum Dennison and Chris Diputado to fouls. However, they still managed to edge closer at 72-74, with 1:58 left on the game clock.
Llanto lived up to his being MVP despite getting booed during the awarding ceremony, when he scored two all-important baskets to silence the Lancers and his critics for a 78-72 lead in the final minute of the game.
Llanto, Cesafi’s first back-to-back MVP, scored 16 points, but Ramirez, who never made it to the mythical five proved that he deserves some recognition for his explosive series-high 27 points. (MCB)
