THE University of San Jose Recoletos Jaguars will try to continue their dominance over defending champion University of the Visayas Green Lancers in Game 1 of the best-of-three semifinals series of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. today at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Jaguars ended UV’s reputation as an unbeaten team in the Cesafi as they defeated them in the elimination round. The bigger challenge for the Jaguars now is whether they could kick the Lancers out of contention and out of the throne the Lancers have comfortably nestled in for the last six years.
Meanwhile, UV having been tagged as the mighty team as it was able to go on for years and never give up a single game, eyes payback after being humiliated by USJ-R twice in a row in a year.
The first time they lost to USJ-R was during the Partner’s Cup earlier this year. Before that, UV’s last loss was recorded two years ago against the University of Cebu in the Cesafi elimination.
In their last encounter, UV was missing some of its main men who had to sit it out because of flu. This time around, UV head coach Elmer “Boy” Cabahug will make sure that his team is all well for this crucial stage in the competition.
UV will be manned by Ariel Mepana, Von Lanete, All-Stars MVP Mike Luga, Greg Slaughter and Rino Berami.
3-point king
USJ-R Coach Edito Salacot, on the other hand, will be powered by All Star three-point shootout winner Jessmar Villahermosa, Manny Gabas, John Malinao and Armand Ponce.
The collegiate semifinals is set at 6 p.m. following the juniors division semis between the University of San Carlos Baby Warriors and UV Baby Green Lancers.
It has been weeks since the Baby Warriors were at battle as it earned a free pass to the semis after topping the elimination round. UV, on the other hand, is still hot from its win over USJ-R Baby Jaguars in the quarterfinal round. (MCB)
