Monic Soliva of University of the Visayas lands on the back of Southwestern University’s Bernie Bregondo in their semifinal match of the 16th Cesafi men’s basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum yesterday (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON).
The University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers leaned on a huge second half surge to take down the previously unbeaten Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma Cobras, 65–53, in the semifinal round of the 16th Cesafi men’s basketball tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Lancers, beaten twice by the Cobras in the classification round, picked the perfect time to pull one over their bitter rival as the win, their second straight in the semis, boosted their chances of making a return to the finals.
Down 17–27 at halftime after scoring just three in the second, the Lancers came out of the dugout swinging and dropped 10 straight points on the Cobras to tie the game up at 27–all. Later in that stretch, power forward Monic Soliva put on a clinic in the shaded lane as he scored six in a 10–0 surge, which he capped with a turnaround jumper to put them up, 48–39.
The lead went to a high of 11, 56–45, but the Cobras rallied to bring it down to 53–58 after Bernie Bregondo scored a left-handed layup off a feed by John Lloyd Luz. But UV did not blink and put the game away with a lay-in by Jerome Napao that raised their lead to seven with just 1:21 remaining.
Veteran guard Alfred Codilla topscored for the Green Lancers with 20 points while Soliva came up with 12, all of which came in the second half.
Quintin Nzuzi and Mac Tallo led the Cobras, who dropped to 1–1 (win-loss) and into a tie with the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors, with 12 markers apiece.
In the other game of the college division, the Warriors kept their title defense bid alive with an 81–70 victory over the fatigued University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars.
Playing in their fourth game in as many nights, the Jaguars led by 13 in the third before crumbling in the fourth to suffer their second straight loss in this single round-robin semis.
Victor Rabat scored 15 to lead the way for the Warriors, who improved to 1–1. Scotty Ntumba chipped in 14. Kevin Oleodo and Clint Munez added 11 and 10 markers, respectively.
Meanwhile in the juniors division, the UV Baby Lancers moved closer to reaching the finals as they thwarted the University of Cebu Baby Webmasters, 64–59.
Point guard Bern Laurente led UV’s second straight win with 16 points and six rebounds.
UC fell to an even 1–1 as court general Gelmart Umpad was held in check and finished with just 12 after torching the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu for 30 on Saturday.
In the first match of the afternoon, the three-time defending champions Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles bounced back with a 64–37 rout of the Cebu Eastern College Dragons. A day after losing to UC, the Eagles came out looking determined and delivered a beatdown to keep their finals hopes alive.
Ateneo de Cebu’s frontline of Michael Cutamora, Alex Visser and Errol Pastor played like men among boys to anchor their relentless attack.
Cutamora had a double-double of 12 points and 10 boards while Visser also had one with 11 and 10 rebounds along with two blocked shots.