OZAMIZ CITY — Host Ozamiz Cotta nipped defending champion Tribu Sugbu, 74-73, Saturday at the Gov. Angel Medina Sr. gym here to win the Southern Conference title and arrange a showdown with idle Cavite for the 2005 Panasonic-NBC national basketball crown.
Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog’s cagers led 30-15 after 10 minutes, but they had to ward off a fierce comeback by the Skygo/Sirlitz-backed Tribesmen in the ensuing periods to take game 3 of the best-of-three series.
An air-tight defense built around Ozamiz big men Christian Nicdao, Toto Delina and Philip Butel hounded the Cebuanos all game and doomed their bid to keep the southern and national titles.
The 6-foot-5 Delina, the NBC slamdunk champion who was a non-factor in the first two games, limited Tribu’s leading scorer Marvin Mercado to three points and help his team control the boards.
Tribu coach Al Solis admitted that Delina gave him "the biggest headache" and praised Ozamiz mentor Albert Calvo for "gambling on Delina."
The Cebuanos cut Ozamiz cagers regrouped and surged ahead again, 57-51, going into the fourth.
Ozamiz opened a 71-60 edge with 1:09 left and then weathered Tribu’s last-ditch rally in the dying seconds. Ozamiz was ahead 74-70 when Alex Cainglet fired a buzzerbeating triple to finalize the count.
Billy Bansil led Ozamiz with 16 points, while Bernie Ursal, scoring mostly from outside, paced Tribu with 29.
The home crows proved to be a big boost to Ozamiz in the match supported by Panasonic, Sulpicio Lines, Spring Cooking Oil, Sunbolt Sports Drink, Accel, Molten, Nature’s Spring, Far Eastern Insurance, Skygo, Sirlitz, Hapee Toothpaste, Dewfoam, KSK Food Products (Boy Bawang), Prime Channel, Bayview Park Hotel and Holiday Plaza-Cebu.
