USJ-R’s Miguel Gastador puts up a shot in a game against USPF in the Cesafi Partner’s Cup at the Cebu Coliseum. CDN Digital photo | Jonas Panerio
Cebu City, Philippines—The University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars hung tough in the fourth period to vanquish the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Panthers, 80-72, in the 2019 Cesafi Partner’s Cup on Tuesday, July 16, 2019, at the Cebu Coliseum.
Up by 10 at the start of the fourth, USJ-R got back-to-back triples from Justin Mondares and Elmer Echavez while Miguel Gastador scored an and-one to raise their lead to 17, 68-51.
The Panthers rallied and brought the deficit to six, 65-71, but the Jaguars had a ready answer, as Renz Solomon and Elmer Echavez scored consecutive fastbreak layups to raise their lead back to double-figures with 3:28 to go.
USPF kept on coming but USJ-R just did not budge with Arnold Azangue scoring a drive to the rack and Gastador canning two free throws to seal the victory for the Jaguars.
Azangue topscored for USJ-R, which improved to 3-6 (win-loss), with 16 points while Mondares and Echavez had 15 markers apiece. Gastador put up 13 points for the Jaguars.
USPF fell to 3-6 and suffered its third straight loss in the second round. Sameen Swint led the way for the Panthers with 26 points. /bmjo