Mark Kong (left) of CIT-U blocks Kevin Villafranca of USJ-R in this bit of action of last night’s Cesafi men’s basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum.
Rookie forward Kevin Villafranca once again showed his veteran savvy as he scored 11 straight points in crunchtime to help the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) oust the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats, 68-63 last night in the Cesafi men’s basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum.
In the first game, the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors survived the upset-conscious University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters in overtime, 66-69.
The import tandem of Congolese Espoir Toyambi and Cameroonian Shooster Olago were their usual dominant selves as they each scored 20 points to tow the Warriors to their ninth straight win and finish the elimination round with a 9-1 (win-loss) card.
It was a hard-earned win for USC which had to survive the 11-point outburst of UC’s spunky rookie guard Justin Dacalos in the fourth period.
After tying the game at 57-all with two free-throws, Dacalos actually had a shot to steal the win for the Webmasters but missed a long three-pointer.
In the extra session, Olago took over, opening with six straight points to put the Warriors ahead, 63-62. Two free-throws by Victor Rabat and a baseline drive by Ian Tagapan with 14.9 seconds remaining sealed the victory for USC.
Dacalos finished with 17 points while Clint Suelto chipped in 13 markers for UC which lost its eighth game in a row.
The main game was equally exciting as USJ-R had to claw its way back from 10 points down to get their fourth win in nine games and formalize their entry into the Final Four. Even with head coach Gilbert Demape ejected from the game after incurring his second technical foul with 25 seconds remaining in the third, the Wildcats never relented and even took the lead, 59-58, after a floater by Allan Dimco.
But Villafranca countered with two inside buckets and after a lone free-throw by CIT-U forward Joshua dela Cerna, he continued his barrage with a three-point play off a fastbreak and then a basket off a shifty post move that placed USJ-R ahead, 67-60, with 1:23 to go.
Villafranca finished with 19 points and five rebounds while import Quintin Nzuzi chipped in 16 points and nine boards.
CIT-U got 21 from dela Cerna but it was not enough to stop them from falling to 2-7.