Kido Cabrera of the USJR Jaguars goes for a lay-up against a phalanx of UC Webmasters during their game in the 2017 CESAFI basketball at the Cebu Coliseum. The Webmasters won, 87-85.
(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Games today (Cebu Coliseum)
1 p.m. – Ateneo de Cebu vs SWU-Phinma (High School)
2:30 p.m. – USPF vs CIT-U (High School)
4 p.m. – USC vs UV (College)
5:30 p.m. – CIT-U vs USPF (College)
The University of Cebu Webmasters erased a 15-point deficit and leaned on the surprisingly-accurate free-throw shooting of Cameroonian Frederick Elombi to fend off the University of San Jose-Recoletos Jaguars, 87-85, last night in the 17th Cesafi men’s basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum.
The UC win forced a tie for second place with their victims at 4-2, behind the reigning champions University of the Visayas Green Lancers and last year’s runners-up, the University of San Carlos Warriors, both of whom tote similar 5-1 cards after the first round of games.
With the Webmasters in deep trouble early, trailing, 20-35, at the halfway point of the second, UC head coach Yayoy Alcoseba turned to little-used guard Michael Galay. The move paid off big time as the rookie guard combined with athletic forward JR Puerto to turn things around and pull to within six, 33-39, at halftime.
The third was all UC as they put USJ-R on their heels with a staggering 23-5 run led by Galay and Puerto, who scored 13 in that stretch to put them ahead, 60-49.
The Webmasters were still in front, 82-75, when the Jaguars made their move, trimming the deficit to just two, 83-85, after a long jumper by Albert Catiloc, with 1:02 to go. On the other end, Elombi – who struggled with his shot from the charity stripe early in the tournament – sank two with 37.8 ticks to bring their lead up to 87-83.
USJ-R answered with a tough reverse lay-up from Miguel Gastador to pull to two with just 15.5 seconds remaining. On the next play, the Jaguars forced a turnover but couldn’t take advantage as forward RJ Dinolan was called for a travelling violation.
The Jaguars gained possession once again after Elombi lost the ball on the inbounds play, but Jaybie Mantilla couldn’t handle the leather and missed badly on an off-balanced jumper as time expired.
Puerto fired in 25 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals while Elombi had 24 markers and 18 boards in spite battling foul trouble all game. Galay – clearly the star of the night – added 11 points, four rebounds, nine assists, a steal and a blocked shot.
Baby Lancers go 6-0
In the high school division, the UV Baby Lancers padded their league-best record to 6-0 with a, 97-75 pounding of the USC Warriors.
The UC Baby Webmasters also remained hot, winning their fourth in a row after they bested the Cebu Eastern College Dragons, 46-41. The USJ-R Baby Jaguars meanwhile, slipped past the Don Bosco Greywolves, 60-53, for their fourth win in six games.