Improved defensive plan works wonders for UC in win over UV

UV’s Gileant Delator is forced to pass off due to the defense of UC in Sunday’s Cesafi men’s basketball game at the Cebu Coliseum. CDN Digital photo | Gerard Vincent Francisco

Cebu City, Philippines—After working hard to improve their defense, the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters caught a big fish on Sunday night, September 15, 2019, shocking the defending champion University of the Visayas (UV), 72-64. 

The win was UC’s first this season after losing its first two games. The Webmasters first lost to the Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma, 65-58, before dropping another against the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF), 78-72.

According to UC lead assistant coach Rocky Alcoseba, defense played a huge factor in the win.

“The first two games, we really had a problem with our defense,” Alcoseba said. “After we lost to USPF, we had three days to prepare for UV, we had to improve our defense in order for us to have a chance to win against the defending champs. Fortunately for us, the boys responded and executed the game plan.” 

Even Shane Menina, who topscored for the Webmasters in the win with 19 points, agreed that the team played better this time around.

Read: Menina scores 19 as UC pulls off upset against defending champion UV

“Nalipay kos team for the effort, ni follow gyud sila sa game plan and ni salig sa usa’t usa aron mudaog mi,” Menina said after the game.

(I’m happy with the team for the effort they showed. They really followed the game plan and trusted each other so we can pull off the win.)

Although he knows the team achieved an upset this early, Alcoseba, son of UC head coach Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba, said it is too early to celebrate such a feat.

“We still have nine games to go. We just need to focus on improving every game,” Alcoseba said.

Focus is actually important for the Webmasters, as it can be recalled that in last year’s tournament, UC peaked early but lost steam late in the season. 

It ended up placing fourth, losing to the University of San Carlos in the battle-for-third game.  

Alcoseba, though, believes much can be learned from the experience.

“Last year, it was a huge learning experience for us. This year, we already have [last year’s performance] at the back of our minds. As coaches, we also learned a lot. So it’s just a matter of applying what we learned improving our game day by day,” the younger Alcoseba said.

UC aims to even its record when it faces last year’s runner-up University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) on September 21. /bmjo