UV Baby Lancers head coach Jun Pepito gives instructions in Game 2 of their Cesafi Best-of-Three high school finals against Ateneo de Cebu. | Photo from Sugbuanong Kodaker
CEBU CITY, Philippines—Delfin ‘Jun’ Pepito Jr. strongly believes that his University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Green Lancers have a chance to dethrone the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles in the Cesafi high school basketball finals.
But the veteran coach knows the Baby Lancers can accomplish this only if they stick to their game plan.
UV and Ateneo de Cebu will fight for the Cesafi high school crown on Friday, December 15, at the Cebu Coliseum.
Pepito told CDN Digital in a post-game interview of Game 2 that he has the pieces to that can match the Magis Eagles.
“Moduwa gyud mi as a team. May chance man gyud mi modaog nila sa tinud-anay lang,” said Pepito.
(We should really play as a team. We really have a chance to win against them to be honest.)
“Pero maguba gyud ang duwa kung ang taw magbinuaya na,” he added.
(But our game plan gets ruined when players start to play individually.)
UV won game 1 of the series, 62-54, last Monday, December 11, but lost Game 2, 80-65, on Wednesday, December 13.
READ MORE: Jared Bahay steers Ateneo de Cebu to victory in Game 2
Pepito admitted that his wards didn’t play as planned in Game 2.
“Dako kaayo ug kalahian sa game one. Sa opensa, sa first game namo, nigamit mi ug set plays. Karon, individual kaayo ang mga players. Gusto mag star players tanan,” Pepito said.
(There’s a big difference from Game 1. In our offense, in our first game, we used set plays. Now, our players were all paying individually. They all want to be star players.)
Pepito reminded his players that they must play as a team if they want to win the title.
Who wants it more?
For Ateneo de Cebu head coach Rommel Rasmo, Game 2 will be all about who wants to win it more badly.
Rasmo told the Magis Eagles to forget their Game 2 win, move on, and focus on Game 3.
“What we’re going to do is to stay focus, the job is not yet done. We expect UV will play better,” said Rasmo.
Rasmo credited the entire team for stepping up when they were needed the most.
“For me, it’s more like the players understand nga kung ganahan mi modaog, laruin namin yung laro namin,” he said.
Leading the charge though for Ateneo de Cebu in its Game 2 win was high school basketball sensation Jared Bahay, who erupted for 25 points.
/bmjo
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