The University of Baguio Cardinals capped their perfect season after reclaiming the men’s basketball crown of the Baguio- Benguet Educational Athletic League Thursday evening at the jampacked UB Cardinals gym.
Despite a horrible free throw shooting, the Cardinals dethroned Cordillera Career Development College Admirals, 75 – 64, as coach Kevin Orduna now comes full circle in being a champion player to winning his first title as head coach of the winningest college basketball team in the Cordillera.
“Grabe yung fullfilment. Hindi ganito yung pakiramdam ko nung nag champion ako as a player,” said Orduna.
Just like in their first encounter during the eliminations, both squads engaged in a nip and tuck battle with score tied at 31 after the first 20 minutes of the ball game when the Admirals momentarily took the lead, 38 – 43, with 4:33 remaining in the third quarter.
The Cardinals however rallied back the rest of the third period led by John Espinosa as UB closed out the quarter with a 53 – 45 advantage.
“Wala kameng adjustment na ginawa going into the fourth quarter. Ang ginawa lang namin is ma – excute yung dapat ma – execute. Yung third quarter maraming lapses pero sa system same lang. Sa execution lang talaga,” added Orduna
After ending the third canto with an eight point lead, the Cardinals continue to run their offense like a well – oiled machine posting an 13 – point lead, 65-52, with 4:12 remaining in the ball game.
Top Admirals Renz Jornacion however tried to carry and bring back CCDC on his shoulders, scoring back to back triples, and pull them within seven, 67 – 60 with less than two minutes in the ball game.
But it was the closest the Admirals can get in the remaining minutes of the fourth quarter as the Cardinals shut down’s CCDC’s three-peat bid.
Jornacion led all scorers with a game high of 28 points while Leomar Vasadre added 18 for the Admirals.
“That was actually our game plan, to let Jornacion score at will for the Admirals. Sucesfull kame sa plan na yun kasi walang nagawa yung mga shooters, kung meron man naka score dahil sa lapses na namin,” Orduna added.
Kevin Binnalay once again came up clutch for the Cardinals with a team high of 16 with Espinosa adding 13 while Yzyr Palispis and Dion Ortaleza chipped in 10 apeice.
Altough the Cardinals missed 22 free throws in the entire game, Orduna said he remains proud of his squad for bagging the school’s 27th crown over-all in the 36-year-old league.
“At the end of the day we executed our game plan, and that was the goal,” closed Orduna. Roderick Osis
UB Cardinals complete perfect season, dethrones CCDC Admirals
