THE Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles finally ended their losing skid against the University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Green Lancers in the Passerelle division after a convincing 78-67 victory yesterday to claim the title in the Cebu leg of the 33rd SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament backed by Milo at the Cebu City Sports Institute Gym.
SHS-AdC had a shaky start with UV taking the early lead, 23-16, after a quarter of action. It was in the second quarter that SHS-AdC finally found its rhythm and took a 35-34 lead at halftime.
The Magis Eagles finished strong near the end of the third quarter with a 10-0 rally, thanks to back-to-back three-pointers by Jared Bahay and Agamemnon Allosada, and two close-range baskets by Tristan Fuentes and Kristian Porter, for a 62-50 lead.
It was all SHS-AdC in the fourth quarter. UV kept on fighting but seemed to miss most of its shots because of SHS-AdC’s smothering defense.
“I guess there’s nothing really special that happenned but the boys really played well and wanted to win. In the off-season UV beat us thrice. Maybe we learned a lot from those losses. The preparation that we did last week was to really control the game. We didn’t really focus on their physicality because we know they will play UV basketball every time. We followed our game plan and played Ateneo basketball. We saw that if we adjusted to them that we might lose our focus on ourselves. I told them to just keep playing our game because a lot of them were pressured because of the three losses. As a coach, I’m very thankful that they stuck to the plan, they played their best. There is nothing more I can ask for from their game,” said SHS-AdC head coach JC Nuyles.
Bahay led SHS-AdC with 15 points, two assists and two steals, while hitting all three shots from beyond the arc. Fuentes added 11 points.
Christian Alilin was UV’s top performer with 16 markers, nine rebounds, five assists, four steals and a block. Brian Toring chipped in 12.
SHS-AdC will represent Cebu in the Passerelle division of the regional finals.
“I’ll think we’ll just celebrate tonight and suit back up on Monday. There’s nothing to celebrate for a long time because we still have the regionals. We will represent Cebu. I want to give credit to UV and coach Bucao for bringing out the best in our team. If they didn’t give out their best against us, we also wouldn’t have given our best. If there’s another deserving champion, it’s UV. They really brought out the best of us and we are thankful that they were our opponents,” said Nuyles.
Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC) finished in third place in the Passerelle division with a 67-60 victory over SHS-AdC B. EKA