John Anthony Lucena of Cebu Institute of Technology-University loses his balance while trying to save the ball. Lucena and the Wildcats bowed out of the 16th Cesafi men’s basketball tournament after they lost to the University of San Jose-Recoletos Jaguars in their do-or-die quarterfinal match last night at the Cebu Coliseum (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON).
Games today
Cebu Coliseum
(Semifinals):
HIGH SCHOOL
1:00 p.m. – SHS-Ateneo (1) vs. UC (4)
2:30 p.m. – UV (2) vs. CEC (3)
COLLEGE
4:00 p.m. – SWU-PHINMA (1) vs. USC (4) –
5:30 p.m. – USJ-R (2) vs. UV (3)
With their season on the line, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars, seeded number two in the playoffs, finally played true to form and blew out the upset-conscious Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats, 83–68, in their do-or-die quarterfinal match of the 16th Cesafi men’s basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum, last night.
RJ Dinolan waxed hot in the crucial game, firing 31 points to help the Jaguars clinch the last semifinal spot.
The Jaguars will have no time to rest as they return to floor today to take on the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers at the start of the single round-robin semifinal phase.
The other semifinalists, University of San Carlos and Southwestern University will face each other prior to the USJ-R–UV match.
Semifinal action in the high school division will also get underway with Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu playing University of Cebu at 1 p.m. and the UV Baby Lancers battling Cebu Eastern College at 2:30 p.m.
The Jaguars flirted with disaster when they yielded to the Wildcats in their first meeting last Thursday, 66–68.
USJ-R exploited its twice-to-beat advantage to the hilt, regrouping in the sudden-death duel to avoid what could have been a gigantic meltdown.
“We just corrected our mistakes in Game 1. I had to remind my players to follow our game plan and we made some necessary adjustments with our defense,” said USJ-R coach Jun Noel.
USJ-R started hot, racing to a 14–2 lead.
Dinolan was responsible for the strong start as he scored nine points of USJ-R’s first 14 points.
CIT-U recovered from its sloppy first showing by opening the second stanza with a torrid run that saw them moving within 25–26.
Dinolan again made his presence felt, scoring six in a 10-0 blast that helped the Jaguars restore a double-digit advantage, 36–25.
USJ-R ended the first half with a 40–28 lead and was never threatened the rest of the way after building leads of as many as 22 points in the fourth canto.
Jaybie Mantilla backed Dinolan with 14 points, while Albert Catiloc added 10.
John Lucena paced the Wildcats with 12 points, while Wilkins Sanchez and Kenneth Ariar chipped in 11 and 10, respectively.
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.
