Suerte brings luck to UV

CEBU, Philippines — Rey Suerte showed flashes of his MVP form in last year's CESAFI season, banging in seven 3-pointers of his tournament-high 31 points as the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers reaffirmed their mastery over the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors, 82-73, to clinch the championship of the 2nd Asia-Pacific University Games (APUG) basketball event last night at the Cebu Coliseum.

All in all, the hot-shooting Lancers rifled a total of 13 triples, including two buzzer-beaters from Suerte that quelled every comeback attempt by the Warriors.

The Warriors actually put up one big fight in the early goings and even took a 42-40 lead at halftime on a triple by Lucky Ecarma.

But the Lancers opened the third period with a 9-0 blitz to regain full control of the match, 49-42.

After enjoying a double-digit lead for the first time at 63-53, Gileant Delator kicked off the final quarter with a crisp trey as the Lancers further walloped the Warriors, 66-53.

The closest the Warriors could come from there was at  64-72 as Suerte capped his game-long brilliance with back-to-back triples to practically wrap things up for the Lancers, 80-66, with a little over two minutes left to play.

Delator finished with 13 points, while Sheldon Gahi chipped in 12 markers for the Lancers, who swept all major tournaments they joined this year with the 17th CESAFI crown as their biggest catch.

Froilan Mangubat paced the Warriors with 14 points, Malcolm Tan scored 13, while Kurt Trangia had 10 points in a losing effort.

NOTES:The game was delayed for a few minutes after the officiating officials called the attention of USC players Malcolm Tan and Kent Cabañog for sporting similar jersey No.19. Tan and UV's Jan Monic Soliva was whistled for a rare double unsportsmanlike foul midway in the third quarter. Both teams were without their head coach. Gary Cortes of UV is on a business trip in Myanmar, while Bong Abad of USC is mourning the death of his beloved mother. (FREEMAN)