The final spot in the semifinals in the juniors division will be contested today by the University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers and the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars even as five teams in the seniors division try to improve their footing with the quarterfinals looming in the horizon in the 15th Cesafi men’s basketball tournament today at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Baby Lancers, runners-up of the juniors division last season, kept their season alive on Thursday with a masterful 68-42 victory over their adversaries. With Jancork Cabahug going off for 27 points and 14 rebounds, UV raced off to a 14-4 start and never looked back towards the dominant win.
Today, they seek to replicate that feat with much of the same formula with Cabahug leading the charge along with some help from Ramish Alforque. USJ-R though, will try to foil UV’s plans but will have to get better performances from John Gonzaga and Joshua Ortiz to move on to the next round and join early qualifiers, reigning titleholder Ateneo de Cebu, University of San Carlos and the University of Cebu.
In the collegiate wars, with the top three spots in the standings all but locked up by USC, UV and defending champions Southwestern University, the race for the fourth spot and final twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals that comes with it heats up between USJ-R, the Cebu Institute of Technology and the University of Cebu.
CIT-U faces off against the UC Webmasters at 4 p.m. while the USJ-R Jaguars match wits with the Cobras at 5:30 p.m.