Negros Occidental turned up the pressure just when Iloilo started to play slack to prevail, 81-74, in a fast and furious high school boys' basketball title clash at the Negros Occidental Multi-Purpose Activity Center.

Ian Gabriel Villanueva, John Carlo Uychiat and Mark Mancera knocked in key baskets in the final three minutes as the Negrenses came back from a nine-point deficit in the third quarter to dethrone the Ilonggos.

Employing on a full-court press, Negros forced turnovers with impunity, scrambled for loose balls and translated them into easy fastbreak points, while limiting Iloilo to only seven points in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter.

Trailing 59-62 at the end of the fourth quarter, Villanueva conspired with Mancera and Luigi Dela Paz in a 20-5 blast that saw them go into the final 2:53 with a 79-67 buffer. Villanueva, who plays for St. La Salle, took top scoring honors with 26 points, while Mancera of West Negros College and Dela Paz chipped in 18 and 13, respectively. Uychiat, whose two lay-ups inside the final two minutes put the outcome beyond doubt, added 10 points. Jay Uy, also of WNC, also contributed 9.

Point guard Anjo Caram paced Iloilo with 21 points. His triple midway in the third period gave Iloilo its biggest lead at 55-46, before two straight undergoal stabs from Mancera and a Dela Paz lay-up allowed Negros to close in, 57-59.

Negros coach Leo Casinillo made key defensive adjustments in the fourth period, putting Nikos Cuenca on Caram and the ploy worked wonders as Iloilo ran into a maze of errors.

Earlier, Bacoleño Charles Ellis Angeles struck the hardest for Iloilo in a title-clinching 74-67 triumph over a Negros squad lacking in ceiling in the elementary basketball finals.

The 12-year-old Angeles, who already stands 5-foot-11, dominated the boards and bullied his way to 9 of his 14 points in the fourth period, before fouling out with 1:40 left and Iloilo ahead, 59-50.

The damage has already been done and even though a pair of late treys from Ralph Dionela gave Negrenses a glimmer of hope, Marvin Gaitan finished them off by nailing crucial free throws in the final 30 seconds.

Gaitan scored 17 points with another towering center, Brian Villaruz, who stands 5-foot-10, adding 11. Dionela finished with 23 points, while Janrey Garrido contributed 15.

A former student of USLS-IS, Angeles, who idolizes NBA star LeBron James, said he did not feel awkward playing against his home-province.

Angeles, an athletic scholar at Iloilo Commercial Central High School, is being lured by 12 teams from Manila, Cebu and Bacolod, among which are topnotch squads like Far Eastern University and Jose Rizal University.

"I still need to improve my game, especially my shooting," Angeles, who only took up the sport more than a year ago, said. Negros erased Iloilo's nine-point lead in the fourth period with successive triples from Dionela, Ballesteros and Garrido but they failed to contain Angeles, who started to throw his weight around with six minutes left. *CPT

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