UV’s toughest victory

By Marian C. Baring
SunStar
October 5, 2007

The University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars fell short in ending the dynasty of six-time champion University of the Visayas Green Lancer in a game decided by the final shot.

The mighty Green Lancers held on to dear life to endure 120 minutes of hell before escaping by the skin of their teeth, 79-78, in their do-or-die semifinals series Game 3 in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. Wednesday night in the overflowing Cebu Coliseum, in a game that winningest coach Elmer “Boy” Cabahug claims was his most challenging ever.

“It was the hardest that we had to go through in the Cesafi and it was just the semifinals,” said Cabahug.

For their seventh straight finals appearance, the Green Lancers renew their rivalry with the University of San Carlos Warriors in the best-of-five battle, which will start tomorrow.

For most, at that night and in that game, USJ-R was the better team but the breaks just did not work for them.

“USJ-R was the better team. They were the hungrier ones. It just was not for them because they had all the chances,” said Cesafi commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy.

To take down the Green Lancers and rewrite Cesafi’s history book were the missions that took the Jaguars years to prepare. It, however, came crashing down when their opponent, the reigning champions, prevailed owing to their wide championship experience, not to mention a powerhouse lineup.

Cabahug credited his skipper Ariel Mepaña for the win, saying that he had worked double hard.

“He was very focused during the game and was happy when we won. He was after all the team captain and had we lost, it would not be good for him,” Cabahug said.

Ferocity

As both teams fought with the same level of ferocity the entire game, everything boiled down to the final seconds. All the chances in the world were with the Jaguars but they failed to capitalize.

USJ-R failed to exploit the Lancers’ foul problem early in the fourth and missed six free throws in this period. USJ-R was ahead by three, 72-69 in the final four minutes, when the now emotional Lancers yanked out all the tricks off their sleeves to carve a 9-0 run behind Rino Berame, Von Lañete and Mike Luga, to lead 78-72 with just 44 seconds left.

The win was at arms length for the Lancers, but the determined Jaguars just would not give up that easily. Bobby Hatague made an easy basket in the 34-second mark before cunning playmaker Armand Ponce intercepted two consecutive UV ball possessions and with the help of Jan Malinao, converted two baskets in a span of four seconds to level the game at 78 with 15 seconds left.

It was after this scenario when all of USJ-R’s hardwork started spiraling down the drain. Lyndon Gudez was called for a foul in the ensuing play, putting point guard Lañete on the free throw area, where he then halved his charities to put UV up front by a precarious 79-78 lead.

Gudez, who is known for his three-point abilities, fired and missed a trey. After wrestling with the UV defenders, USJ-R wrested the ball and had 1.6 seconds left to score.

However, instead of aiming for an easy undergoal basket, Ponce passed the ball to Hatague at the top of the arc, and with little time to do anything he was forced to shoot against two defenders and missed badly.

The final miss sent the coliseum rocking as the crowd was divided to screams of disappointment and of celebration.

The end of the game did not pacify the crowd and the taunting even got more intense. UV fans came running to the USJ-R bench, pushing the banners in the faces of the USJ-R players. That angered the players, some of whom looked like they were about to elbow the fans.

Berame led UV with 18 points, while Lañete and Ritchum Dennison had 12 points each.

UV (79)—Berame 18, Dennison 12, Lanete 12, Luga 10, Mepana 10, Sendrijas 6, Villanil 6, Diputado 5.
USJ-R (78)—Hatague 16, Ponce 15, Gabas 14, Malinao 10, Villahermosa 7, Gudez 7, Carilla 5, Lapiz 3, Bibera 1