THE University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers survived the grit-and-grind University of Southern Philippines (USPF) Panthers and a hostile crowd with an 88-86 overtime victory in the Asia Pacific University Games (APUG) basketball tournament yesterday at the USPF Gym.
UV had control of the game with a three-point lead, 56-53, going into the fourth quarter. But USPF, with its hustle, started the fourth with a 6-0 run to take a 59-56 lead.
The Panthers led by as much as nine points, 71-62. UV, however, sparked a 10-2 run spearheaded by Jerome Napao and cut the lead down to just a point, 72-73.
Napao, who had a 12-point fourth quarter performance, converted both of his charities to finally give UV back the lead, 76-75, with 1:54 remaining. Geliam Delator made it 78-75 with a pull-up jumper from a steal with 1:39 left.
Lydon Colina split his free throws and converted both in the next play after an empty possession by UV to tie the game at 78-78 and force it to overtime.
Napao scored the first six points of the overtime period to give the Green Lancers an 84-78 lead. John Alocllio stopped the bleeding with a layup, 84-80.
UV brought it back up to an eight-point, 88-80, advantage with back-to-back baskets by Joshue Segumpan and Napao. But USPF answered with six straight points with a four points from free throws by Gilbert Sastrillas and Colina, and a lay up by Colina to make it 88-86.
Rey Suerta made a crucial turnover after stepping out of bounds with 25.6 seconds remaining. Colina, on the other end, also turned the ball over after being called for a backcourt violation.
Monic Soliva was fouled by Colina, who committed his fifth foul, but missed both free throws to give USPF a chance to tie or win the game with 9 seconds left.
Kenneth Cada had a chance to win the game but he missed his three-pointer from the corner.
Napao led UV with 27 points, while Suerte added 22.
Colina carried most of the offensive load for USPF with 20 points, while Winston Ynot and Villarta added 11 and 10 respectively.
UV improved to 3-1, while USPF dropped to 2-2.
Jiangxi Provincial Pingxiang Experimental School logged its first win after a tight 68-66 victory over Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).
Zhou Xiaoyang had a 34-point explosion for the Chinese school, while Hu Zhenkang added 10. Farhan Fadzil and Abdul Sarif scored 15 points each for the Malaysians.