Baby Lancers rout Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu in Game 2 of Cesafi juniors finals

The University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers achieved vengeance as they thrashed the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles, 81-56, in Game 2 of the best-of-five finals series in the juniors division of the 2011 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. basketball tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.

The victory tied the series up at 1-1 and it came on the heels of the 82-94 defeat that UV suffered in the opener last weekend.

Still seething over that loss, the Baby Lancers battered the Eagles into submission with their physical play and hot shooting in the second period.

It seemed as if the Eagles had everything going for them in the opening canto as they made shots from all over the floor and punctuated it with a buzzer-beating jumper by Mark Segador that gave them a 22-12 lead.

Henry Asilum, who had just arrived from Vietnam off his stint with the Energen Pilipinas team that competed in the FIBA Asia U-16 Championship, gave SHS-AdC their biggest lead at 24-13 with a floater at the start of the second stanza.

Then, the offensive dam for UV broke as the Baby Lancers went on a 22-4 rampage that featured outstanding play from Paul Desiderio, Matthew Oche, Dexter Lucero, Reeve Ugsang and Ron Dennison.

When the dust cleared, the Baby Lancers managed to outscore the Eagles, 30-11, during that stretch which pushed them ahead, 42-33, at halftime.

Things just got even worse for the Eagles in the second half as the Baby Lancers clicked from all corners, which led to a 66-47 lead at the end of three periods.

The lead reached a high of 26, 81-55. Desiderio topped UV with 19 points while Dennison added 16.

Meanwhile, the UV Green Lancers had their worst finish in Cesafi history as they ended up in fourth place following their 61-64 loss to the University of San Carlos Warriors in the deciding game of their series for third place.

The University of Southern Philippines Foundation Baby Panthers on the other hand, captured third place in the juniors division with a 78-72 win over the ousted champions, Cebu Eastern College Dragons.