Monday, August 04, 2008 Jaguars maul Panthers By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter
AFTER having been voted as the second best team to have a good chance to win this year’s crown of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc (Cesafi), the University of San Jose-Recoletos had a lot to prove going into the league’s new season.
The Jaguars got off to a rousing start as it notched its first victory, 78-67, over the University of Southern Philippines Foundation yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum proving that they will be a force this season.
During the launching of the 2008 season of the Cesafi, the coaches were made to vote on who they think will win this year’s title. And while UV was the runaway winner, USJ-R came next in line.
And with seven-time UV’s invincibility cloak slowly shedding off, even losing to the University of San Carlos Warriors in the first game of the season, the race for the title has become even stiffer.
The Jaguars also have another incentive—the core members of the Jaguars lineup playing in their last year and are expected to fight to the death just to leave a legacy for the team.
Yesterday, despite starting off sloppily, they managed to keep themselves in check and banked on equal ball distribution for the win.
All, save for two in the USJ-R roster, contributed points for the team.
In fact, so well-distributed was the offensive that only Lyndon Gudez scored in double digits, scattering 13 points for USJ-R.
Luther Justiniani scored eight points and nine rebounds and seven assists, while wily pointguard Armand Ponce, who kept making impossible shots happen, managed to sink six points with nine assists.
The Jaguars had to shake off an eight-point deficit early in the first period, anchored by a scorching 21-0 run that blasted out of the driver’s seat overturning the deficit to a 37-34 lead for good.
Spiking this turnabout was the buzzer-beater of Jabe Delfino from the halfcourt line, which sent the crowd to its feet. The ensuing period proved useless for the Panthers as they failed to recover.
In the juniors division, defending champions University of the Visayas Baby Lancers asserted their dominance as they defeated the USJ-R Baby Jaguars, 75-43. Leading UV’s charge is former Letran player Arvie Cabanero, who scored 17 points in his debut with the Cesafi.
In the other game, the Cebu Institute of Technology Wildkittens also started off to a hot start as they crushed the University of San Carlos Baby Warriors, 85-66. (MCB)
