THE Cebu Eastern College held off the Cebu Institute of Technology-University Baby Wildcats, 70-66, to grab their second win in a row in the high school division of the 2019 Cesafi basketball tournament on Tuesday, September 17, 2019, at the Cebu Coliseum.
Dwight Buisa and Winston Bingil provided the crucial points down the stretch to keep CIT-U at bay, get the win and improve their win-loss record to 2-1.
It appeared as if CEC would run off with the win as they led by 12, 54-42, after quick baskets in transition by Karl Cua and John Lumingkit.
But the Baby Wildcats scratched and clawed their way back into the ballgame behind the heads-up plays of their frontcourt manned by Darryl Versales and Christian Sullano to pull CIT-U to within two, 59-61, 2:41 remaining.
A five-point cluster by Bingil raised CEC’s lead to five, 66-61, but a triple by CIT-U’s Andrie Reyes trimmed the deficit to two, 64-66. But on the ensuing play, Buisa broke loose in transition and made a layup with 46.6 seconds left.
A free-throw by Baby Wildcats guard Erick Cabrera made it a one-possession ball game and things got even more interesting after the Dragons lost the ball on their offensive.
However, Cabrera missed the layup and Bingil secured the CEC victory with two made free-throws with just 8.1 ticks left in the game.
Paul Apolonio led CEC in scoring with 13 points while Buisa finished with a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds along with two assists and five steals. Peter Rosillo also had 12 while Bingil chipped in 10.
CIT-U, which dropped to 1-1, got 17 points and seven boards from Versales. (SunStar Cebu)