THE PASSERELLE squad of the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles marched to the finals and a possible fourth straight crown in the Visayas finals of the Milo-backed BEST Twin Tournament as they destroyed Colegio de la Purisima Concepcion (CPC) of Roxas, 89-37, yesterday in Roxas City.
The wards of head coach Rommel Rasmo will face St. John’s Institute in the finals after the latter won over Sun Yat Sen High School, 65-59.
Meanwhile, the Small Basketeers of the Philippines squad of the SHS-AdC finally scored a break as they came from behind to defeat Ateneo de Iloilo, 37-35.
The kids of head coach Jed Cabellon trailed for most of the game and was staring at a 26-31 deficit heading to the final stretch. But SHS-AdC never gave up, going to John Chen, Patrick Yu and Jed Colonia for an 8-2 run to take a 34-33 lead with 2:09 left in the game. Mico Monsanto then added a clutch mid-range jumper to give SHS-AdC a 36-33 lead with 20 seconds left.
ADI replied to cut the lead to 36-35, and then repeatedly fouled to get into penalty situation and a chance to regain ball possession. Monsanto split his charities with four seconds left for the final count.
SHS-AdC now needs to win its last assignment against CPC of Roxas, and needs an SJI victory over ADI to seal a spot in the championship game. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio