UV Baby Green Lancers team officials and players pose for a photo at center court after beating the CBSAA Trailblazers during their game in the Cesafi on Saturday, November 25, 2023. | By Glendale Rosal
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Green Lancers defeated the City of Bogo Science and Arts Academy (CBSAA) Trailblazers, 60-53, to complete the final four cast in the high school division of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) Season 23 Basketball Tournament on Saturday, November 25, at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Baby Green Lancers finished their elimination round campaign with a 7W-3L record to tie with the University of Cebu (UC) Baby Webmasters.
Fortunately, the UV Baby Green Lancers of veteran head coach Jun Pepito didn’t just secure a crucial win over the Trailblazers. They also defeated the Baby Webmasters in the elimination round.
Thus, they earned the last spot of the semifinals by virtue of Cesafi’s winner-over-the-other tie breaker rule.
UV will have to wait who they’re facing in the semifinals between the University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue (UCLM) Baby Webmasters and the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars.
The Webmasters and Baby Jaguars will vie for the top spot as they clash tomorrow in their last remaining elimination round game.
During their game on Saturday, the UV Baby Green Lancers dominated against CBSAA, whom they haven’t beaten since their semifinals match last season in the Cesafi. CBSAA was the top seed in Cesafi 2022 and they defeated UV, securing a finals berth.
Earlier this year, CBSAA also beat UV in the former’s pre-season tournament held in Bogo City, north Cebu.
This time, UV avenged all their losses with Roderick Cambarijan topscoring their squad with his 14-point outing. Kenneth Cole added 12 markers, Ismael Coldura had 11 and Vincent Aying chipped in nine markers.
Anfernny Illustrisimo and Vinz Rivera each scored nine points for CBSAA which finished its season with a 4-6 record, a complete contrast of their spectacular 9-0 slate last season.
The UV Baby Lancers had to endure numerous lead changes and deadlocks before they erupted in the final period.
The game was tied at 42-all heading into the final period when UV unloaded an 8-1 run from Cole’s back-to-back treys and Coldura’s layup, giving them a seven-point cushion, 50-43.
UV stretched their lead to 12, 55-43, after Aying scored five straight points. UV maintained their big lead all the way to the final minutes despite a late comeback from the Trailblazers that cut the lead to single digits.
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