Melvin Navarra of USJ-R is ganged up by two UV players in their Recoletos de Cebu Basketball Cup game yesterday at the Recoletos Coliseum. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
The University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars advanced to the championship round of the 1st Recoletos de Cebu Basketball Cup after defeating the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers, 70-44, yesterday at the Recoletos Coliseum.
The Jaguars, who finished with a 2-1 (win-loss) record after the single-round robin affair, will face the visiting University of Sto. Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers in the championship match today at the same venue. UST finished the elimination round unbeaten.
Both teams already met last Thursday with the UAAP powerhouse Tigers prevailing, 73-60. USJ-R head coach Jun Noel hopes the team has learned a thing or two from their previous meeting and hopefully adjusted to brighten their chances of winning.
“We will not let them (UST) execute what they have practiced and stop them from getting second-chance points,” Noel said.
RJ Dinolan, playing for the first time after coming from an eye injury, led the way for the Jaguars with 16 points while Juan Miguel Gastador and John Pastias added 13 and 10 markers, respectively.
Dave Cabanilla finished with nine points for UV, which was using its Team B for this tournament.
The Growling Tigers of Head Coach Boy Sablan clinched their finals berth Friday after a win over the Green Lancers.
A triple-tie could have been possible had the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors defeated UST in the last game, but the Tigers were still too good, scoring a 63-58 victory.
Kenjo Subido led UST with 15 points and Reggie Basubas added 10 while USC’s Victor Rabat fnished with 17 markers.
Whatever today’s outcome will be, Coach Noel believes that their match-up with UST will be a big boost for the team which is preparing for the upcoming season of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc.
“Teams like them (UST) can give my players enough experience for the Cesafi, and I will be more than happy with that,” the veteran coach Noel said.
UV (0-3) and USC (1-2), meanwhile, will battle for third place in the first game of the day.