THE University of San Carlos (USC) and University of the Visayas (UV)once again meet in a rematch of last year's SBP division finals after advancing to the championship round of the Milo Best SBP Passerelle Tournament Cebu leg with contrasting wins in last weekend's semi-finals.
USC, as usual, had another display of utter dominance with an easy 63-18 annihilation of University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R). UV, on the other, needed an extra period to beat Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) in a 41-37 overtime thriller.
The Baby Warriors, three-peat SBP champions, blew away USJ-R, leading all the way from start to finish.
The duo of Reinhard Jumamoy and Nichael Cabanero led USC with 14 and 12 points respectively. Christian Amaba scored half of USJ-R's total output with nine points.
UV dictated the pace in the first two quarters and had a comfortable 12-point, 24-12, lead at the halftime break.
The tides, however, turned in the third as Aaron Abunawan single-handedly brought SHS-AdC back into the game by scoring eight points in the quarter, to trim down the lead to just a single point, 29-30.
It was neck-to-neck in the fourth quarter. With 1:45 left on the clock, Mathaeus Omamalin scored a baseline drive to give UV a 35-32 advantage.
However, Aldrich Alvez answered with a triple to tie the game and send it to overtime.
SHS-AdC scored the first point in overtime with a free throw but UV retaliated with back-to-back baskets by Sean Salarza and Kerk Louie Navarro for a two possession lead, 41-36, with a little over two minutes left.
SHS-AdC had more than enough time to catch up but only scored just a point from a free throw by Abunawan.
Omamalin and Mart Julius Tigmo both had eight points for UV, while Abunawan scored 12 points in a losing effort by SHS-AdC.