Fil-Am guard Heruela tows University of Cebu to victory over Cebu Institute of Technology

Games today:

Cebu Coliseum

5 p.m. – CEC vs. SHS-AdC (Jrs.)

6:30 p.m. – SWU vs. USPF (Srs.)

The “Lone Star” guard turned in an all-star performance as Brian Heruela willed the two-time defending champions University of Cebu Webmasters to an 83-78 win over the Cebu Institute of Technology-University Wildcats in the 12th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. men’s basketball tournament last night at the Cebu Coliseum.

Heruela, a Filipino-American guard who hails from the “Lone Star State” of Texas, put up stellar numbers as he scored 25 points, bagged 21 rebounds including a crucial offensive rebound in the dying seconds that helped them pad what was a precarious two-point lead. He also had a block and a steal with 1.4 seconds left that sealed their first win of the season.

UC had several 11-point leads in the game, the last one at 64-53, in the early part of the final canto after a three by Robinson Mohamad.

CIT-U, which played without star guard Floyd Taboada, who was serving a one-game suspension, came fighting back behind a 12-3 run fueled by the consecutive three pointers of Jeffrey Taghoy for a 65-67 score.

The Wildcats came closer as a trey by Bridrik Brigoli got them within a single point, 76-77. They even had a shot at taking the lead after Zandro Palileo was fouled with 30.5 ticks left. The transferee from the University of San Jose-Recoletos, though, choked on both attempts.

Heruela and CIT-U guard Axel Rabaya exchanged freethrows for a 79-78 UC lead. Heruela was once again fouled and was sent to the line, where he made the first but missed the second. The stocky guard was the first to get to the loose ball and was fouled once more. He made just one for an 81-78 lead with 5.7 seconds remaining.

Heruela intercepted a pass by Allen Dimco and made two more freethrows for the final score.

In the juniors division, the UC Baby Webmasters got their second win in a row after they blasted Don Bosco, 88-38.