Jaybie Mantilla (11) of USJ-R shoots a jumper over the defense of UC in their first semis game last Tuesday at the Cebu Coliseum.
CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO
Game today:
Cebu Coliseum
4 p.m. – USJ-R vs UC
The University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars and the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters lock horns one last time in the semifinals to determine who will grab the last ticket to the championship round of the 17th Cesafi men’s basketball tournament today at the Cebu Coliseum.
UC hacked out an 81-70 victory in their first encounter last Tuesday to send this semis matchup to a rubbermatch.
The winner of today’s game will move on to battle the reigning champions University of the Visayas (UV) in a best-of-three finals showdown starting with Game 1 on Wednesday.
With much at stake, UC head coach Yayoy Alcoseba implored his wards to go for broke in their bid to return to the finals for the first time since 2011 when currently San Miguel Beermen June Mar Fajardo and Brian Heruela led the Webmasters to their second straight crown.
Ironically, that title came at the expense of Alcoseba, who was still manning the Southwestern University-Phinma Cobras.
“We have nothing to lose. Nobody expected us to win much given that majority of the team is new,” said Alcoseba, who made waves right before the season when he signed on to coach UC after a successful six-year run with SWU-Phinma.
“I told the players especially the graduating players that this is their time, but they have to stay composed. Execution and composure will be keys to winning this game since USJ-R will go all out in today’s game,” he added.
With Cameroonian standout Frederick Elombi expected to get his usual numbers, the onus will once again be on UC’s local crew to give support. They stepped up in the previous game with four locals scoring in double figures led by JR Puerto’s game-high 20.
Jaguars guard and leading MVP contender Jaybie Mantilla urged his teammates to maintain their focus in the face of UC’s aggressive defense which held them to just 36 percent shooting last Tuesday. Mantilla was limited to just 12, making just three of his 12 attempts. He also turned the ball over five times.
“The last game was very frustrating. We lost our focus but that’s basketball so we have to move on and focus on the next game. We also discussed the things we did wrong last time. We have to keep our eyes on the prize so that our efforts will not be in vain,” said Mantilla, whose USJ-R squad has yet to make it back to the finals since the 2009-2010 season when it lost to the Greg Slaughter-led UV.