Tuesday, August 07, 2007 USC beats CIT for first win in Cesafi
IN their last encounter, the University of San Carlos Warriors barely survived the Cebu Institute of Technology Wildcats in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc (Cesafi) post season tournament—the Partners’ Cup.
Yesterday, in their first encounter in the Cesafi, the Warriors made sure CIT will not be given another opportunity to scare them.
Playing in its homecourt at their main campus gymnasium, USC defeated CIT, 86-79.
UV, it seems, is not the only team to parade a Filipino-foreigner, as USC also has a crowd-drawer in its midst, in the person of Filipino-Canadian Eddie Bakker, whose mother is from Ormoc.
Bakker, although not as colossal as UV’s 6-foot-11 Fil-Am Gregory Slaughter, still stands a good 6-foot-2 and provides a good size for last season’s collegiate first runnerup.
Unlike Slaughter’s entry to the vaunted Green Lancer’s machine, USC and Bakker barely caused a buzz when the Fil-Canadian signed up for the team.
Bakker did not score though, but his presence was enough to get the partisan crowd going.
In the game, USC led from start to finish and even managed to build up leads of more than 20 points.
USC kept CIT’s Sherwin Abobo in check and limited him to just 21 points. That was a far cry from his previous output of 38 in their last encounter, which almost led to USC’s demise.
In the final period, CIT was behind 86-65, when it unleashed a fiery comeback, behind Abobo, Resilla and Lamosa, with a 13-0 run, cutting the lead down to just seven. The Wildcats’ surge, however, came a little too late as time expired just as they had their intensity going. (MCB)
