Saturday, August 09, 2008 UV barely survives USPF, 77-73
AFTER losing in their first game, the once mighty University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers, could no longer deny its weakness as it barely survived the advances of the lowly University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF), 77-73, in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. collegiate basketball yesterday at the University of San Carlos gym.
USPF coach Raul Latonio had always admitted that compared to UV, his team looks flimsy. But this did not deter the Panthers from showing enough tenacity that sent shivers down UV’s spines.
The breaks seemed to favor USPF’s unheralded players JR Gulane, Eleardo Rivera and Jonathan Monterde, as they erased a 10-point deficit and turned the game to their favor when they posted a four-point lead with less than two minutes left in the clock.
The game looked headed for another disaster for the seven-time champions, but they only needed to dig deep into their championship experience to get out of the mess as the tied the game to 73-all.
Ritchum Dennison’s heroics saved the day for UV as he shot a bank triple to give UV a three-point lead, 76-73. Dennison later halved his charities to seal UV’s first win for the season that made up for a huge opening day loss to longtime nemesis USC Warriors.
Dennison led the way with 18 points, while Greg Slaughter only scored 12 points.
Meanwhile, Thursday night, the University of Cebu Webmasters failed to capitalize on the momentum of their stunning start, flopping in their second game, as they bowed down to the University of San Jose Recoletos Jaguars (USJ-R), 97-69, at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Webmasters actually managed to keep the USJ-R squad within striking distance and were just down by a point, 37-38 at the turn. The Jaguars, particularly Jabe Delfino, unleashed a furious third quarter rally that sent the Webmasters teetering off.
Delfino fired three consecutive triples that put USJ-R ahead by seven points, 50-43. Their struggle to shake off a pesky UC did not stop there as UC made a comeback to once more level the field at 51-all.
Kurt Amores, the new addition to the USJ-R roster, who was plucked from Foundation University, then anchored a searing 12-2 rally that obliterated all hopes for UC to take another victory. USJ-R now shares the leadership with University of San Carlos Warriors with identical 2-0 records. (EKA/MCB)
