Bleacher Talk

The University of the Visayas is the Small Basketeers Philippines champion for a second straight year after cruising to a 45-18 win over Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu in the finals of the SBP division of the BEST Center SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament backed by Milo. UV, a team that has dominated this age group for the past two years, faced some resistance in the first half where they built leads of 15-8 and 19-9 after the first two periods. They finally broke the game wide open in the third period, establishing a big 34-14 lead behind the combined offense of John Carl Baring, James Ponce and Jan Mark Toring while holding SHS-Ateneo to only five third period points. It was cruise control for UV the rest of the way. John Louie Bual led a balanced UV attack with eight points while Jan Mark Toring had six. Wil Franco Mostar led SHS-Ateneo with four. UV will represent Cebu in the Visayas Regional Finals of the tournament November 9-10 in Iloilo. In Passerelle divi

When the FIBA World Cup kicks off on Saturday, the whole basketball world sets its eyes on China as it hosts the biggest every World Cup edition in terms of size and depth. Note that the Philippines lost its bid to host this year’s World Cup, but that’s fine; a blessing in disguise as we’re more set to host it in 2023. The world’s top 32 teams converge on China and this includes our very own Gilas Pilipinas which is making its second straight trip to the event after playing in the 2014 edition in Spain. Let’s break it down. The 32 teams are spread into eight groups of four teams each. Group A is composed of host China, Ivory Coast, Poland and Venezuela. Their games will be played in Beijing. Group B is composed of Russia, Argentina, Nigeria and Korea. Games of this group will be played in Wuhan. Group C has Spain, Puerto Rico, Iran and Tunisia. They play in Guangzhou. Gilas Pilipinas is part of Group D where they will play Italy on August 31, Serbia on September 2 and Ango

Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu and the University of San Carlos recorded their third straight wins without a loss yesterday to share the top spot of the Passerelle division of the BEST SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament backed by Milo. SHS-Ateneo overcame the University of the Visayas, 39-34, while USC scored its second straight overtime win, 44-40 over Don Bosco Technical College Cebu. In a game of tournament heavyweights, SHS-Ateneo trailed UV in the first half, recovered in the third, lost the lead in the fourth period before going on an end-game run to score the close win. They were down 7-10 and 15-23 at halftime before taking over the third period for a 29-26 lead going into the fourth period. UV however stormed back to tie the game at 31-all, then regain the lead at 34-31 on a big triple by Denisvee Sinoy. But that was all for UV as Joash Cutamora and Jared Bahay made a free throw each to give the Magis Eagles back the lead at 35-34. Bahay then drilled a clutch co