THE reigning Cesafi juniors champions, University of Cebu (UC) Baby Webmasters, are in for a tough challenge when they head to Manila to compete in the Philippine Secondary Schools Basketball Championship (PSSBC) which begins this Saturday at the SGS Stadium in Quezon City.
UC is in Group B with the Far Eastern University Baby Tamaraws and powerhouse San Beda Red Cubs, who they will match up against in their first game on Saturday.
Acting head coach Dondon Hontiveros, who is taking over the position with Joever Samonte tending to personal matters, said that preparation-wise, they are still at a 6 out of 10, but vowed to raise that in the next few days.
“We are at 6 out of 10 but we’ll try to raise it a few more notches in the coming days. We can compete and we have the element of surprise going for us as they don’t know what our players are capable of doing,” said the Cebuano hoops great of his UC team, which actually shocked the defending Cesafi champions University of the Visayas to win the juniors crown.
With no legitimate big man in sight, UC is expected to play basketball at breakneck speed to try and neutralize their opponents presumed height and heft advantage.
Our assets are our shooting and our speed and we’ll bank on those once again to keep things close, and who knows, perhaps we can get an upset,” said Hontiveros.
UC will be leaning on a cadre of standouts led by Finals MVP Jerick Jan Ranido, sharpshooter Justin Mondares, James Incio and Hontiveros’ son, Isaiah, to try and make their mark on the big stage.
“All I know is that the players are excited and we will use that excitement to help the players make the most out of this opportunity,” shared Hontiveros.