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MARK Linao made the biggest shot of his young career, sinking a booming three-point shot at the buzzer to lift the University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers to a pulsating 75-74 win over the Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) in Game 1 of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) basketball tournament juniors division best-of-three semifinal series yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
UV trailed by as many as eight in the final canto behind the rigid defense of the smaller yet quicker Wildkittens and CIT appeared on their way to the upset win as a lay-up by Mark Jayven Tallo put the tally at 62-54.
The Baby Lancers persevered and crept to within one, 67-68, after a putback by Linao. Two free-throws by Jasper Brigoli briefly gave UV the lead, 69-68 but CIT wingman Franklin Batiquin sank two free-throws and converted on a lay-in off a steal in the backcourt to give them a 73-69 advantage with just 1:01 left in the game.
UV guard Anthony Pero retaliated with a three-pointer at the top of the key to slice the lead to one once again at 72-73. CIT had one foot in the door of a victory as they got their own miss on the ensuing possession and got Batiquin fouled with UV already in the penalty situation.
Batiquin, who ended up with a game-high 27 points, choked in crunchtime as he split his charities with just 5.9 ticks remaining in the match, leaving the door open for the Baby Lancers to take the win.
Linao then tracked down the initial three-point miss by Gerald Legarde and pulled up for a trifecta from the corner that hit nothing but the bottom of the net as time expired.
Legarde led UV with 17 points while Pero had 14 markers. Linao and Brigoli each had 13 points.
CIT now needs to win Game 2 on Saturday to prevent UV from making a return trip to the Finals. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio
