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Lupain ng SOC clinched the basketball championship at the University Days 2026 as they won the series in the Finals against the Lupain ng SBA. SOC had suffered in Game 1 with a 76-84 loss, but eventually bounced back in Game 2 ,dismantling SBA with an 82-50 victory at the IH-Gymnasium on January 27, 2026.

Lupain ng SOC gained a twice-to-beat advantage after defeating SNAMS in their semi-finals matchup with a 77-68 victory, sending SNAMS to another semi-finals against SBA for the final spot in the finals.

In Game 1, SBA led all throughout, (16-27, 37-47, 59-68, 76-84), as they were shooting hot beneath and beyond the shaded area. SBA triumph in eliminating the twice-to-beat advantage of SOC as both teams only need one win to win-it-all.

Game 2 started with SOC leading hassle-over-hassle as they went on stealing and securing fastbreak for easy deuce, leading 14-7, forcing SBA to call a time-out after an 8-to-nothing run.

After the time-out of SBA in the first quarter, SOC forced a defensive stop after SBA committed a 24-seconds shot clock violation. The first quarter ended with a 14-2 run, 20-9.

The second-quarter started defense to offense for SOC as they converted 2 points; the quarter ended with a hype as Alfaro drove to the basket and dunk. The quarter ended with a 45-21, demolishing the hope of SBA to win the championship.

As the game continued, the tension arose, in the third quarter SBA started aggressive as they had 2-7 mini run against SOC, 47-28, cutting the lead to 19.

Alfaro, Nuguid, and Velasco prevented SBA from closing the gap as they head off to end the third quarter with 3-pointers, follow-up, rebounds, and a block from Nuguid. Ending the third quarter with dominance 66-43.

Fourth and final quarter, as SBA was trying to stay alive, Panlilio of SBA was called for a technical foul, after hitting a player from SOC, leading on to his disqualification and eventually being thrown out of the Game.

The game ended at the 2:07 mark, hailing the School of Computing as the Champions at the University Days 2026 basketball tournament with a final score of 82-50.

In an interview with David Alfaro about what is the team mindset before the 2nd game, he explicitly said “Our mindset before the game was to take advantage of the fact they’re more tired than we were because it was going to be their third game of the day. And we did just that.”

Additionally, he was asked what the team’s preparation was in order to become the strongest and win the championship his response is “We had a few practices leading up to the games but our chemistry off the court was what carried us through the wins.”

His message to their supporters and to the fellow community of School of Computing “I’d like to thank everyone in SOC, the first two UDAYS the support wasn’t there but now were really felt the presence. And a big thank you to my teammates, could not have done anything without them.”

As the final buzzer sounded, SOC finished first in the podium carrying determination and perseverance, followed by SBA and SNAMS took their places in the podium.

by George Cheng