THE Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildkittens slipped by the Southwestern University-Phinma (SWU-Phinma) Baby Cobras, 68-66, in the high school division of the 2019 Cesafi basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum on Sunday, September 15, 2019.
Wingman Sol Jade Tirol and forward Clark Versales came up with the crucial points in crunchtime with the former scoring five straight points with under two minutes remaining to give CIT-U the lead for good.
Tirol had 22 points, nine rebounds, an assist, two steals and two blocks while Versales had 17 points, nine boards, an assist, three steals and two blocked shots.
Trailing for most of the game, SWU-Phinma rallied and was in front, 64-61, after a layup by John Rueda with 2:02 left. However, Tirol got momentarily open on a broken play, and made the Baby Cobras pay, sinking a three-pointer to tie the game up at 64-all with 1:38 to go. He and Versales later added three free-throws to give the Wildkittens a 67-64 advantage.
The Baby Cobras pulled to within one after a pull-up jumper by Dezeo Villanueva and even had a chance to grab the lead after they came up with a steal. However, Villanueva’s jumper rimmed in and out and CIT-U’s Christian Sullano raised their lead to two, 68-66, by splitting his charities.
The Baby Cobras had a couple of chances to win the game outright but Kendall Limana’s wide-open triple did not fall and Villanueva could not handle the kickout pass after Aaron Nopal grabbed the offensive rebound.
SWU-Phinma fell to 1-2. With big man Charles Libator suffering a sprained ankle, Villanueva had to carry the scoring load, firing in 23 points.