Joshua Yerro of UV tries to get past the SWU-Phinma defense in yesterday’s high school game. Yerro had 27 points in UV’s 83-70 win over SWU-Phinma.
Junjie Mendoza
Games today:
Cebu Coliseum
(HIGH SCHOOL)
1:00 PM – SHS-AdC vs USJ-R
2:30 PM – USPF vs UC
(COLLEGE)
4:00 PM – CIT-U vs UC
5:30 PM – SWU-PHINMA vs USJ-R
University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) head coach Leode Garcia gave his Jaguars a stern talking-to as he heeded them to get back their killer instinct when they take on the Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma Cobras today in the 2018 Cesafi men’s basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Jaguars are coming off an unsettling 65-74 loss to the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors on Thursday, which dropped them into a tie for third place alongside the idle University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) with identical 5-3 (win-loss) records.
Garcia, in his first year as head coach, said he did not bother to give his wards much time on the floor during practice in lieu of an hour-long huddle wherein he implored them to get back their “thirst.”
“We had a great start but all of a sudden, we relaxed. I feel like we lost our intensity, we lost our fire, our thirst especially on the defensive end of the floor,” shared the former big man of the Cebu Gems in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association.
“We have to get that back. That’s what I keep on telling them especially since we’re already in the second round,” Garcia added.
USJ-R’s opponent — SWU-Phinma — seeks to salvage their season with their hopes for the Final Four all but gone with their 2-7 record.
In the 4 p.m. game, the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters go for their ninth win in a row when they take on the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT–U) Wildcats.
At 8-0, the Webmasters are just four wins away from a sweep of the elimination round and an outright spot in the best-of-three finals.
In the high school games yesterday, the USC Baby Warriors bested the Cebu Eastern College Dragons, 58-52 to improve to 4-1. CEC fell to 2-3.
UV (5-0) also won against SWU-Phinma (1-5), 83-70.