CEBU, Philippines - John Raphael Aranas scored on a barreling drive to lift the Cebu (UC) Junior Webmasters to a nerve-tingling 65-64 win over the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles last night in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) at the Cebu Coliseum.
Games tomorrow
(Cebu Coliseum)
1 pm CEC vs. SHS (jrs.)
2:30 pm UC vs. UV (jrs.)
The Junior Webmasters, who were trailing most of the way, erased an 11-point deficit earlier and continue to pounce on the youthfulness of the Magis Eagles, whose inexperience became the obvious reason of their endgame collapse.
It was actually a sorry loss for the Magis Eagles who were maintaining an 11-point lead, the last was at 39-28 early in the third quarter. They still led in the final 11 seconds on a split charities by Bradley Bacaltos.
With time winding down, Aranas dribbled his way to their frontcourt and squeezed in a beautiful lay-up with only 2.9 seconds left that turned out to be the game-clincher for the Junior Webmasters.
Bacaltos still made a long heave below the midcourt, but the just kissed the rim.
Aranas finished with 15 points for the Junior Webmasters even as it was robust center Alvin Labolabo topscored for UC with a game -high 30 points.
Adamme Talisic and Niko Nemeño, who were also part of the big run by UC, combined for 15 markers.
Point guard Adven Jess Diputado scattered 22 points for the Magis Eagles. Adrian Roland Muller had 12 points despite being handcuffed by the Junior Webmasters' stonewall defense.
With the win, the Junior Webmasters need only to win against the University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers tomorrow to move closer to another finals appearance.
(THE FREEMAN)