BAGUIO CITY – University of Visayas and Sacred Heart of Jesus Montessori set up a titular showdown Friday for the Sahamang Basketbol ng Pilipinas National Under-16 Basketball Championship at the University of Baguio gym.

The UV Baby Lancers eliminated University of Santo Tomas, 93-87, and Sacred Heart of Jesus sent St. John Institute packing, 120-116, before a sellout crowd at the UB gym which included UB president Johann Ben Bautista, SBP regional director Christian Bautista, and former Mayor Reinaldo “Peter Rey” Bautista.

UST and St. John hope to salvage the spoils when they meet for third place at 2:30 p.m. before Sacred Heart of Jesus and UV clash for the title at 4 p.m. in the tournament presented by Summit Mineral Water and supported by Energen Nutrition Milk and Cereal, Philex Mining, Molten and the MVP Sports Foundation.

The Baby Tigers, who trailed by nine points at one stage, rallied to within 50-47 and 64-61 but couldn’t get any closer due to sloppy ball-handling and bad shot selection.

“The crowd was for UST but we stuck to our game plan,” said UV coach Kenneth Pepito.

Andres Paul Desiderio led UV with 36 points, hitting five in the closing minute. He also had eight rebounds.

Missing 34 shots and committing 19 turnovers were handicaps UST couldn’t overcome, especially with their free throw shooting going awry as well. The Baby Tigers missed 14 foul shots, six in the final three minutes of play.

“We made many errors and our shooting was bad; that’s why we were unable to execute our plan,” UST coach Allan Jake Ascue.

In the other Final Four match, Sacred Heart of Jesus Montessori and St. John fought on even terms throughout the game before the undefeated Cagayan de Oro-based squad, which trailed, 61-56 at halftime, got crucial breaks down the stretch to advance to the winner-take-all match with UV – a Visayas vs Mindanao showdown.

Scores:

UV 93 – Desiderio 36, Escalona 12, Dinolan 11, Fernandez 9, Santillan 6, Flores 12, Canete, V. 6, Canete, P. 5, Gahi 2.

UST 87 – Corre 14, Garcia 12, Berdijo 11, Syyap 11, Laman  10, Ramirez 8, Baethiong 6, Mayor 3, Lavarias 2.

Quarters: 21-18, 42-37, 68-61, 93-87

2nd Game:

SACRED HEART 120 – Gachapin 22, Tubac 22, Baltazar 21, Neri 18, Murillo 17, Marata 17, Salcedo 3, Tagarda 0.

ST. JOHN 116 – Dusaban 24, Arroyo 23, Sian 19, Montoya 16, Rojas 15, Montalbo 14, Juson 5.

Quarters: 31-29, 56-61, 91-89, 120-116.