Marco Panta of Consolacion goes up for a layup against a San Francisco defender in Game 2 of the North Division Finals at the Consolacion National High School gymnasium.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON
Deciding Game 3 of Governor’s Cup North Division Finals today
With the way both coaches are talking about Game 3 of the North Division Finals of the 2018 Cebu Governor’s Cup Inter-Cities/Municipalities Basketball Tournament, it seems the rubbermatch is going to be a dogfight.
Consolacion and San Francisco, locked up at one game apiece in this best-of-three finals series, battle it out at the Cebu Coliseum tonight for the right to face South Division champions Talisay City in the overall championship.
“We will be more aggressive and be more physical in game three,” said Christian Liaz, San Francisco’s head coach. “We will do our best and we will apply everything that we practiced since the beginning of this tournament and add more to it just to play our best and win the title.”
Multi-titled veteran coach Delfin “Jun” Pepito is just as determined, especially since he is coming from a championship finish with the University of the Visayas in the juniors division of the Cesafi Partner’s Cup preseason tournament last Tuesday also at the Cebu Coliseum.
When asked about his thoughts of returning to the Cebu Coliseum just a few days after leading the Baby Lancers to the title, Pepito said, “That’s what is in my head. Winning the title.”
Pepito said his players have prepared for a dogfight ever since losing Game 1 of the series in Camotes Island. The Sarok Weavers showed that when they routed San Francisco in Game 2, 86-61, at their home court at the Consolacion National High School gymnasium.
“My players are all prepared. We showed how prepared we are in [Game 2].”
Liaz admitted his team didn’t play well in Game 2, and adding to his woes was the injury of star player Kenny Rogers Rocacurva in the second quarter of that game due to a bad fall.
“We were very bad in our defense and in our rebounding. Rocacurva’s injury was also a factor because he was sitting down for a lot of minutes. Maybe my players were a bit tired or my players were not in good condition because our plays were so messy and we couldn’t execute our plays correctly,” Liaz said.
But he is determined to bounce back as he hopes to be an inspiration to other teams from the province.
“We want to prove that even though we came from an island, we were able to come to the mainland and show everyone that we can play and reach the finals. This is also to encourage other far-flung teams in the Governor’s Cup that they can do the same,” said Liaz.
Tip-off is set at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live in Cebu Daily News’ Facebook page via Cebu Sports Live.
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