USPF’s Joseph Ducay protects the ball against Aaron Franco of the UC Baby Webmasters in the juniors match of the 16th Cesafi basketball tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
UV forces two-way tie at the top after trouncing USC in Cesafi men’s hoop tourney
The University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers earned a piece of the lead in the team standings after they bested the defending champions University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors, 74-62, in the 16th Cesafi men’s basketball tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
In a rematch of last year’s finals that hardly resembled last season’s match-up, veteran guards Rey Suerte and Alfred Codilla combined for 13 points in the final canto to subdue the Warriors, who have now lost two straight and dropped to 2-3 (win-loss).
UV on the other hand, tied the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras at the top at 5-0.
Suerte finished with 17 points, including several acrobatic lay-ups in crunchtime that kept USC at bay. Codilla had 14 markers, including seven straight at the start of the fourth that helped them build their biggest lead of the game, 73-60.
UV’s Liberian reinforcement Bassiere Sackour finished with a double-double of 15 and 10 boards.
Conrad Catapusan led USC with 15, 12 of which came in the third. Kevin Oleodo continued his shooting streak and sank four triples for 14 points.
In the other collegiate game, the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Panthers finally broke a four-year losing spell as they edged the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats, 69-67.
Roy Quiatchon capped off his 18-point, 11-rebound performance with his biggest deuce of the evening – a putback with 6.6 seconds remaining that proved to be the game-winning basket.
Gilbert Sastrillas, Mark Tenebroso and John Batac all played pivotal roles in getting USPF into the win column as they each had 10 points to raise the Panthers’ record to 1-4 while sending CIT-U further down at 0-6.
The Panthers held a 67-64 lead after Batac and Colina made free-throws with 23.5 ticks remaining. However, Wildcats guard Steve Bucao knotted the count at 67-all with a booming triple from the left wing. On the ensuing USPF possession, Quiatchon squeezed in between several defenders to snatch the offensive rebound off a miss and put it back in to give them back the lead with 6.6 ticks to go.
CIT-U still had a chance to tie the game after Rey Navarro was fouled with 1.6 seconds left. But he missed both free-throws as time expired to give USPF the rousing victory.
In high school action, the University of Cebu Baby Webmasters tied the Ateneo de Cebu and UV at the top at 4-1 after they blew away the USPF Baby Panthers (0-4), 77-49. The University of San Jose-Recoletos Baby Jaguars on the other hand, routed the Baby Cobras (2-3), 83-62, for their third win in five tries.