Wildkittens slip past Baby Jaguars

CEBU, Philippines - Nikko Otadoy drilled in a crucial triple in the final 4.2 seconds that lifted the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildkittens to a pulsating 59-56 victory over the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJR) Baby Jaguars in last night's lone secondary match of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) at the Cebu Coliseum.

Games tomorrow:

(Cebu Coliseum)

5:15 pm USC vs. SHS-ADC (Sec.)

6:45 pm USJR vs. UV (Coll.)

Down by double figures most of the way in the first half, the Wildkittens found many heroes during their third quarter rally as they sliced the gap to only four, 42-46, to end the period.

Mark Vincent Laguna, one of the smallest players inside the court, later hit a triple to start the fourth period and pushed the Wildkittens within a matchstick, 45-46 and then Kevin Barkley Eboña scored from undergoal to give the Wildkittens the lead on two occasions, the last was at 49-48 still 6:47 left in the ballgame.

Both teams could not find their mark for more than two minutes until Baby Jaguar Ray Angelo Yap, perhaps the smallest junior player in the league, tied the count at 50-all, still 4:06 to go.

The largest lead the Wildkittens could muster in the ballgame was four points, 54-50, but that was quickly erased by the Baby Jaguars.

Incidentally, Otadoy gave back the lead to the Wildkittens, 56-54 but Al Jaynee Bayucot tied it once more, 56-all, still with 50 seconds left until Otadoy's heave dropped in just a few steps from their bench.

Since they still had two team fouls, the Wildkittens wisely used their fouls allowing the Baby Jaguars to dribble for three seconds and had only 1.2 seconds to work with and failed in their final attempt.

Otadoy, who hails from Toledo City, led the Wildkittens with 17 points even as the tandem of Roland Augustine Hermosilla and Bayucot, had 12 and 11 points, respectively for the losing Baby Jaguars.

The scores:

CIT-U (Sec.) 59 - Otadoy 17, Delima 9, Lucero 8, Eboña 7, Kong 6, Pareja 5, Laguna 3, Molero 2, Sinala 2

USJR (Sec.) 56 - Hermosilla 12, Bayucot 11, Yap 9, Mumar 6, Camara 6, Barbosa 5, Cuyos 5, Suson 2 – (FREEMAN)