Games today:
Cebu Coliseum
5 p.m. – USJ-R vs UC (High School)
6:30 p.m. – USJ-R vs CIT-U (College)
THE UNIVERSITY of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars moved up to second place even as the Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma Cobras kept their hopes for a Final Four berth alive in the 17th Cesafi men’s basketball tournament on Sunday night at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Jaguars shrugged off the hard-fighting but undermanned University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors, 74-69, to snatch their fifth win in seven outings.
The Cobras, on the other hand, took control late to earn a 72-67 win over the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats.
USJ-R now totes a 5-2 (win-loss) record, good for second place behind the 8-1 University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers.
USC dropped its second game in a row and fell to third at 6-4.
SWU-Phinma improved to fifth at 3-5 and is closely pursuing the University of Cebu (UC) for the last ticket to the semifinals at 5-4.
The Cobras struggled on defense all-game long but focused long enough on that end down the stretch to spark a 15-4 run and pull ahead 68-61 with just 1:15 left.
Sophomore guard Shaquille Imperial towed the Cobras with 29 points and four steals. He scored 15 in the second to keep SWU-Phinma within striking distance after CIT-U went up 11, 27-16.
The Cobras were still down, 53-57, when Imperial went to work, scoring on a short jumper and an and-one. Mac Racho then hit a floater and a reverse layup, while Edmundo Bayhonan and William Polican added a putback and a huge triple, respectively, to push SWU-Phinma ahead, 68-61.
The Wildcats got to within two, 67-69, after a driving layup by Jemcerson Sable with 33.4 seconds to go but Gerald Fernandez and Daryl Nazareno held them off by making three free throws in the dying seconds.
Meanwhile, leading MVP contender Jaybie Mantilla scored seven of his 19 points in the fourth to help the Jaguars trounce the pesky Wildcats. He also had seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
RJ Dinolan also played a key role in helping USJ-R get the win with a near triple-double of 17 points, 10 boards and seven assists. Off-guard Victor Nunez had 11 points, four boards and two steals.
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.
