Players of the University of Cebu and Don Bosco fight for the ball in the secondary match of the 16th Cesafi basketball tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum. UC won the match, 69-60.
(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Games today (Cebu Coliseum)
1:00 p.m. – CIT-U vs CEC (High School)
2:30 p.m. – UV vs SWU (High School)
4:00 p.m. – SWU vs USPF (College)
5:30 p.m. – USC vs USJ-R (College)
Finally given a tough test after weeks of serving up one blowout after another, the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles leaned on their veteran mettle to beat the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars, 67-59, in the 16th Cesafi juniors basketball tournament last night at the Cebu Coliseum.
It was a nip-and-tuck affair with the three-time defending champions clinging to a precarious 60-56 lead with less than four minutes remaining. However, Travis Mantua leaked out for a fastbreak lay-in and Jeremy Nacua sealed the hard-earned victory with a booming triple from the right corner.
Nacua finished with 14 points highlighted by four three-pointers while Errol Pastor had 12 points and seven assists. Big man Alex Visser continued on his breakout season with another double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds while reigning league MVP Jed Colonia posted nine markers, seven boards, five steals and four assists in yet another stellar show of all-around brilliance.
After getting stymied for the first 20 minutes of the game, the Magis Eagles finally found their rhythm and got easy buckets from Pastor, Colonia and Christian Manaytay to move in front by 11, 55-44, 7:53 to go. But USJ-R did not go away and pulled to 56-60 after a triple by John Gonzaga and a free-throw by Theo Ranara.
But Mantua answered right back with a tough transition lay-up, and after Ranara canned another free-throw, the Magis Eagles swung the ball around to a wide-open Nacua, who promptly swished a trey to push their lead to 65-57 with just 1:04 to go.
Meanwhile in the other high school games, the University of Cebu (UC) Baby Webmasters forged a tie for second place in the standings after they outclassed the Don Bosco Greywolves, 69-60. The two teams own similar 6-3 records now but still must wait for the University of the Visayas Baby Lancers to finish their elimination round games to find out who gets the second outright semifinal spot.
Diminutive court general Gelmart Umpad – all 4-foot-11 of him – nearly completed a rare triple-double as he scored 22 points, pulled down eight rebounds and stole the ball seven times. He also padded his stat line with four assists.
Equally deadly was Umpad’s backcourt mate John Bryl Cuyos, who also had 22 points peppered with six rebounds, three helpers and three swipes.
The University of San Carlos (USC) Baby Warriors were also victorious as they slipped past the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Baby Panthers, 74-72.
Ralph Bande was USC’s high-point man with 14 while Juan Garro backed him up with 13. Wide-bodied big man Steven Mendoza added 12 to help the Baby Warriors get their third win in nine games.
USPF dropped to 2-7, the second worst record in the high school tournament.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
