West Negros College summoned its vast championship experience in the face of a relentless challenge from CEDAR College to record an 85-80 win Saturday for its ninth straight NOPSSCEA collegiate basketball crown before a capacity crowd at the WNC Gym

. Reserve swingman Rundy Baydo, center Virgilio Dapar and power forward Jason Mellarin bailed out the Mustangs with timely baskets in the final quarter. The Cadiz-based cagers kept it close with three-point shooting and scrappy offensive rebounding, key factors in shocking victories over perennial contenders University of St. La Salle, University of Negros Occidental Recoletos and Colegio San Agustin Bacolod in the run-up to the championship match.

But the Mustangs simply had a deeper bench and the size advantage, and the win, which completed a seven-game sweep of this year's tournament, merely validated their dominating presence in the league.

Baydo finished with a team-high 17 points, including 9 in the fourth quarter. His output more than made up for the performance of ailing Vengie Vergara, who was limited to 8 points.

Vergara, though, made his presence felt on the defensive end, blocking a potential momentum-shifting triple from hot-shooting Richard Ong with 49.3 seconds left that could have trimmed the advantage to three points.

"It's a good thing the players in the bench stepped up," coach Dennis Tumayan, referring to Baydo and Jetric Sumido, who posted 10 points.

Tumayan offered the win to the WNC management for its support to the squad.

Baydo's triple near the four-minute mark of the final quarter provided the breathing room the Mustangs needed to finally put away the Cadiz-based squad.

Dapar and Mellarin imposed their will inside the paint with four points each inside the final three minutes.

Still, CEDAR managed to give the Mustangs a scare.

Trailing 73-80 after a Dapar undergoal stab, Ong stroked home the last of his six treys from the right corner to cut the lead to four. But Mellarin scored on a tip-in with 1:24 left and point guard Alfie Villariza made two free throws with 14.5 ticks remaining to preserve the victory.

The Mustangs threatened to break the game open in the first half, going ahead 40-28 with four minutes left in the second quarter. But CEDAR unleashed a 14-1 spurt, highlighted by three triples from Ong to take the first half, 42-41.

WNC, though, came out ferocious in the third quarter utilizing its size advantage and also relied on Villariza's free-scoring ways to reclaim the advantage.

Dapar pumped in 15 points, while Mellarin and Villariza added 13 and 12, respectively.

The fouling out of Audie Locsin and Jessie Boy Moreño hastened CEDAR's downfall as the Cadiz-based squad ran out of steam in the end.

Locsin contributed 16 points, while Moreño picked up 13.

"We achieved our goal of reaching the championship this year," CEDAR coach Rommel Balandra told the DAILY STAR.

"We just stayed positive, even with this loss. We know we are in the land of the giants," he added. *CPT

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