UV wins CYBL U15 championship

CEBU, Philippines — Two for two is the University of the Visayas after winning the Under 15 division championship of the CYBL Summer League over the weekend via a 55-43 win over Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu at the Sacred Heart School Mango Avenue campus gym. This comes on the heels of UV’s bagging the Under 12 division title of the same tournament last week.

The final score though didn’t reflect how close the game was and how UV leaned on a big endgame push to score the win. SHS-Ateneo led, 12-8 after the first period but UV recovered to take the control at halftime, 25-20.

The Magis Eagles fought back to pull within to just one, 33-34, after three periods. With momentum on their side SHS-Ateneo took a slim 37-36 lead to kick off the fourth period.

But that was it for the Magis Eagles as it was an all-UV show from then on. Brian Santhony Toring, Denisvee Ryan Sinoy and Lawrence Petchan combined on a 17-3 run to give UV a commanding 53-40 lead with 1:05 left in the game.

The UV defense shut down the SHS-Ateneo offense in the stretch, giving up only a triple. Petchan led a balanced attack for UV with 11 points as Franc Gabunada added 10. Joash Cutamora led SHS-Ateneo with eight points.

With the title, the wards of Coach Ronald Bucao swept the Under 12 and Under 15 divisions. They’ll miss out on the Under 18 division as they didn’t field a team.

In the Under 18 division semifinals, Batang Mandaragat scored a come-from-behind over Sisters of Mary School-Boystown, 61-55, to barge into the finals.

Boystown was in control of the ballgame, leading, 22-15 and 33-28 after the first two periods. Batang Mandaragat inched closer to 43-40 after three periods, setting the stage for their fourth period run.

Led by Patrick Ayag and James Llenes (who arrived late due to an important engagement), Batang Mandaragat slowly but surely clawed their way back into game, finally tying the score at 55-all with two minutes left. Boystown was stunned at the turn of events and couldn’t find the bottom of the net anymore for the rest of the game.

Ayag and Allen Augusto led the dependents of overseas seafarers with 18 points each. Llenes added 16, all of them in the second half. SMS-Boystown’s Cee-Jay Gonzales scorched the basket with seven triples to lead all scorers with 26 points, but this wasn’t enough as no other Boystown player scored in double digits.

Batang Mandaragat will face the winner of the semifinals showdown between Southwestern University-Phinma and Mt. Olives School of the Philippines. (FREEMAN)