CEBU, Philippines - The Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles banked on their near flawless outside shooting and then quelled a decisive endgame rally by Cebu Eastern College (CEC) on the way to dethrone the Dragons, 82-76, and book the remaining finals ticket in the juniors division of the 11th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) basketball season last night at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Magis Eagles of coach Rommel Rasmo, thus, set up a best-of-five championship showdown with the University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers starting tomorrow.
As of this writing, the collegiate knockout match for the second finals slot was still being disputed by the second-ranked Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras and the third-seed UV Lancers.
Jari Igna topscored for the Magis Eagles with 20 points spotlighted by two crucial triples with a little over a minute left to play that doused cold water on CEC's spirited rally.
The Dragons trailed by as much as 15 points, 56-41, with still 3:43 left to play in the third period, but the defending champions slowly crept back to whittle the deficit down to a manageable three points, 74-77, with 1:08 remaining.
After the Magis Eagles couldn't make one good offensive move, the Dragons could have gotten closer but Sumayang missed a wide open jumper with only 24 ticks left in the gameclock that could have changed the course of the match.
The Magis Eagles then made a living at the foul line to scrape through a six-point victory that earned them a shot at making school history just like what CEC accomplished last season.
Interestingly, Alexander Lim and Dave Wilson Yu,- who knocked in the insurance free throws for the Sacred Heart side,- are children of CEC alumni Alex Lim and Wilson Yu.
Big man Julius Cadavis heavily backed up Igna with 18 points followed by Maverick Suarez with 11 markers, while Aaron Sing scored all his nine points from the 3-point territory.
Marvin Bauya, who was whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul for intentionally bumping Alexander Lim in the final 13.9 seconds perhaps out of frustration after a missed shot, paced the Dragons with 20 points. Neil Sumayang added 19 points, while Alfred Sedillo chipped in 12 points markers in a losing effort.
The scores
SHS-AdC (82) - Igna 20, Cadavis 18, Suarez 11, Sing 9, Ochea 9, Yu 6, Go 3, Lim 2, Segador 2
CEC (76) - Bauya 20, Sumayang 19, Sedillo 12, Huevos 9, Roxas 9, Yap 5, Zosa 1, Berdera 1 Halftime: 38-34 (FREEMAN)