GAME 1 SET: UV, UC start defense of Cesafi hoops titles

UC’s Isaiah Blanco drives past the defense of USPF in a semifinal game of the Cesafi high school basketball tournament on November 16, 2019 at the Cebu Coliseum. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa

Games Monday, November 18, 2019

(Best-of-Three Finals Series Game 1)

Cebu Coliseum

5:15 p.m. – UC vs SHS-AdC (high school)

6:45 p.m. – UV vs SWU (college)

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The defending champions University of Cebu (UC) Baby Webmasters and the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers look to draw first blood as they take on separate foes at the start of the championship series of the 2019 Cesafi basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum on Monday, November 18, 2019.

The UC Baby Webmasters will be vying for a historic back-to-back high school crown against the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles.

The UV Green Lancers, on the other hand, will be gunning for a four-peat against the Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma Cobras. 

Both UC and UV had to fight twice in the playoffs to get their chance of retaining their title and both also advanced to the semifinal round in contrasting fashion.

In the high school division, while the UC Baby Webmasters finished at the top of the standings and enjoyed a twice-to-beat advantage, they were not able to capitalize on that advantage and had to go through a do-or-die game against the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Baby Panthers.

Read: UC finishes off USPF, advances to Cesafi high school basketball finals

USPF defeated UC in their first semifinal match-up, 82-77, last November 12.

The Baby Webmasters, however, got their title retention bid back on track via a huge 81-56 dismissal of the Baby Panthers and finally clinch their finals ticket on November 16.

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The SHS-AdC Magis Eagles, meanwhile, only needed one game to dismiss the Baby Lancers, 48-41, in the playoffs last November 14 and advance to the championship. 

Read: Ateneo de Cebu off to Cesafi high school basketball finals

The UC Baby Webmasters will be gunning for their fourth high school title while the SHS-AdC Magis Eagles will be vying for their fifth title all in all.

The College division sees an interesting rematch between UV and SWU-Phinma.

UV lost to SWU thrice, including two games that handed the Cobras the preseason Partners Cup title last summer. 

The SWU Cobras also had an easier way to  the finals as it only took one game for them to bag their finals ticket via 65-56 outlasting of the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors last November 12. 

Read: SWU-Phinma is back in the Cesafi finals

UV, on the other hand, had to erase the twice-to-beat advantage of UC Webmasters by winning their first semifinals game, 81-62, last November 14 and finally advancing to the finals via a 76-75 squeaker last November 16. 

Read: UV rallies past UC to advance to Cesafi men’s basketball finals

Both wins were huge for UV Green Lancers as they actually got swept by UC in the double  round robin eliminations. 

UV will be gunning for a fourth straight title and 14th overall while SWU is hoping to end a 5-year title drought and bag its third title in the league. 

Meanwhile, students of the Cesafi member school can watch Game 1 for free at the General Admission section. All they need to do is present their valid school ID. /bmjo

Read: Tiukinhoy: Students of Cesafi member schools can watch Game 1 of finals match for free