THE UNIVERSITY of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers got some measure of revenge against their Cesafi tormentors as they ousted the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors from the 1st Raul Cabanero Inter-Collegiate Basketball League with a 75-70 win in the knockout semifinals on Sunday night at the Bulacao Sports Complex in Talisay City.
Though the Cesafi finals, which the Warriors won, ended many months ago, the Green Lancers clearly still have an axe to grind against the former and played with equal parts skill, aggression and resiliency as they rallied from a double-digit deficit to stun USC and advance to the finals tomorrow, where they will meet the winner of the other semis game pitting the University of San Jose-Recoletos Jaguars against the J. Espina-Cebu Institute of Technology-University Wildcats.
Rey “The Flying Carpet” Suerte has quickly become UV’s deadliest perimeter weapon and showed it in scoring 19 points to lead the Lancers. The team’s co-captain Jun Manzo added 14 while forwards Jerome Napao, Mike Macion and Monic Soliva connived to score 24.
Cesafi Mythical Five member Charles Pepito led the Warriors with 18 while Ian Tagapan pitched in 14. William McCaloney added 11 while Victor Rabat had 10.
In the Inter-Sitio category, Villabusca edged Villaberna, 70-69.
The scores:
UV (75) Suerte 19, Manzo 14, Napao 9, Macion 8, Soliva 7, Saga 6, Santillan 5, Balabag 4, Segumpan 3.
USC (70) Pepito 18, Tagapan 14, Mc alony 11, Rabat 10, Ortega 9, Cataposan 4, Gaviola 2, Divinagracia 2.