Friday, August 24, 2007 Still undefeated By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE University of San Carlos was on the brink of absorbing its first setback, but thanks to a formidable sixth man—the crowd—the Warriors were given enough confidence to crawl out of a hole and beat the University of San Jose Recoletos Jaguars, 84-73, in last Wednesday’s Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. basketball at the Cebu Coliseum.
The USC Warriors, who once were branded as the doormats who could only generate a handful of supporters, now has a crowd cheering for them regularly.
Even during their game in Danao last Saturday, people came in droves, driving the long distance from the city to support their team. In Danao, USC ended the streak of the Southwestern University Cobras. That game showed the USC crowd’s influence of the Warriors’ scorching run.
Last Wednesday, when the Warriors trailed USJ-R for the whole first half, their fans were there, egging their wards on. The crowd’s presence became more apparent when ultimately, the Warriors were able to erase a 10-point deficit behind the explosive Enrico Llanto.
Llanto brought the house down when he dropped the tie breaking basket at the start of third period to put them at 40-all with USJ-R.
Then, the Warriors’ groupies let out a collective gasp when Llanto, who already fished 19 of his 21 points at this juncture, fell on the floor writhing in pain when he was brought down and forced to rest after he stepped on USJ-R defender Randy Pogoy’s foot.
Partner
At this point, Niño Ramirez, the other half of the USC hot duo, stepped up to make up for the absence of his partner.
After being held scoreless by the USJ-R defenders in the first half, Ramirez waxed hot to score nine points—spiked by two triples and a gutsy drive—in just three minutes as USC finally grabbed the lead, 52-49.
USJ-R managed to snatch back the driver’s seat with a 10-2 run, ending the third at the helm, 60-59.
However, a blistering 18-8 run in the final frame, spearheaded by the seven straight points of Sam Hermosa—who is returning to Cebu from a stint in the UAAP—and backed by Carlo Padayao, Paul Joven and Giovanni Padillo, completely banged the door on the Jaguars.
What made the win intriguing was how USJ-R, which was actually tipped to win in this matchup, crumbled in the crucial stretch and why coach Edito Salacot’s reliable men failed to be their usual productive selves in the most awaited meeting in the league.
USJ-R’s usual snipers Lyndon Gudez, Bobby Hatague, Manny Gabas and John Malinao were reduced to scoring in petty single digits.
In the end, Llanto came up with 17 rebounds on top of his 21 points, while Ramirez provided 19 points for USC.
USC’s end-game composure allowed them to break away from being tied with the University of the Visayas to take temporary leadership in the eight-team heap with five straight wins.
After ending SWU’s win streak, USC also ended the Jaguars’ streak at four games. USJ-R was paced by its second stringer Jessmar Villahermosa’s 17 markers. The Jaguars are currently at third with 3-1, next to UV (4-0).
