USJ-R Jaguars wallop CIT-U Wildcats, claims top seed in Final Four

USJ-R forward Nichole John Ubalde scores in transition in the Jaguars’ 106-77 rout of the CIT-U Wildcats in the Cesafi men’s basketball tournament on Tuesday night at the Cebu Coliseum. / CDN Photo Lito Tecson

The University of San Jose-Recoletos Jaguars emerged as the top seed in the upcoming Final Four after they walloped the Cebu Institute of Technology-University Wildcats, 106-77, at the conclusion of the elimination round of the 2018 Cesafi men’s basketball tournament on Tuesday at the Cebu Coliseum.

USJ-R, University of the Visayas and the University of Cebu all ended up with the same 9-3 (win-loss) record after the double round-robin elims but the Jaguars claimed the top seed by virtue of a superior quotient of 1.08.

UV got the second seed with their quotient of 0.99. UC placed third as they got the lowest quotient score of the three at 0.91.

This means that UV will be taking on UC in the Final Four with the Green Lancers needing only to win once to advance to the best-of-three championship.

USJ-R will be facing off against the fourth-seed, which was still being determined as of press time. The Jaguars will also have a twice-to-beat advantage.

The writing was already on the wall as early as the first, which ended with the Jaguars ahead, 31-12. USJ-R cruised to the win from that point onwards.

Reigning league MVP Jaybie Mantilla led six players in double-figures for USJ-R with 25 points, six rebounds and nine assists. Segamars Ewenike had a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds, Miguel Gastador added 13, Tricky Peromingan tallied 12 while Fletcher Galvez and RJ Dinolan pitched in 11 apiece.

Mark Kong scored 30 points for a CIT-U squad that finished the season at 3-8.