MANILA, Philippines — University of Visayas is back as Cebu’s best collegiate team after an improbable comeback in the finals.
UV regained the throne in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (Cesafi) basketball tournament, clawing back from 0-2 deficit in the series and besting Southwestern University, 64-62, in game five on Thursday.
Wowie Escosio turned import Mike Nzuessue’s miss into gold with barely a second left on the clock to lift the Green Lancers to a sweet victory over last season’s tormentors.
On top of that, UV became the first team to come back from the brink of defeat in a best-of-five series and bag the championship.
The game winner capped Escosio’s heroics as he scored 11 of his 16 points in the payoff period. John Abad, meanwhile, led with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
After a surplus of technical difficulties including the shotclock and the scoreboard at Cebu Coliseum delayed the finale for at least an hour, the Green Lancers still managed to come out firing after the lull and took the double digit lead.
But Cobras recovered and knotted the match at 60-all.
The Cobras, though, botched several openings down the stretch to take the lead, and were ultimately left ruing all the missed chances to wrap it all up in the last two games.
Import Landry Sanjo led SWU with 21 points and 15 boards while Tallo added 12 with just one assist. With reports from Jonas Panerio, Cebu Daily News