UNIVERSITY of the Visayas held off University of San Carlos, 77-63, in the Cesafi men’s basketball tournament Sunday at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Lancers saw a 23-point lead trimmed down to three by the Warriors before regaining control to register their fourth win in five games.
Wowie Escosio led the Lancers with 16 points and seven rebounds, John Abad had 14 points, while import Mike Harry scored nine points and pulled down 14 rebounds.
The Warriors, who got 15 points from rookie Miguel Plata, 13 from Stephen Que and 12 from import Ahmed Salihou, fell to a 2-2 win-loss mark.
The Lancers held the Warriors scoreless for the first eight minutes of the second period to build a 32-9 lead.
The Warriors got it down to 10 in the third, 35-45, after a 13-2 run led by Salihou and Que.
The deficit was further trimmed to just three, 51-54, at the start of the fourth after a driving lay-up by Dave Guardiario.
However, the Lancers pushed the lead back to double-digits as Escosio muscled his way inside for a bucket while Abad popped in a medium-range jumper for a 67-57 lead with 4:56 remaining.
The scores:
UV (77) - Escosio 16, Abad 14, Perolino 10, Nzuesseu 9, Arong 9, Akomo 7, Villamor 5, Marquez 3, Cabañero 2, Codilla 1, Santillan 1, Octobre 0, Fajardo 0.
USC (63) - Plata 15, Que 13, Salihou 12, Rabat 7, Guardiario 6, Magat 4, Amin 4, Ortega 2, Pepito 2, Laude 2, Lim 0, Adlawan 0, Oleodo 0.
Quarterscores: 16-9; 33-14; 54-49; 77-63.
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