Tuesday, September 02, 2008 Lancers take top spot By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE University of the Visayas Green Lancers proved that nothing can take them away from their throne—in the elimination round at least—as they round up the first phase of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) basketball competition on top of the standing after defeating the University of San Jose-Recoletos Jaguars, 63-58, in a fully-packed Cebu Coliseum Sunday night.
The highly-anticipated match lived up to the buildup—at least until the third period because in the final quarter, the Jaguars seemed to have shifted from an all-fighting mode to a team merely there to watch the Green Lancers clobber them for the win, barely struggling to give a fight.
The loss actually put the Jaguars on good footing as they just might elude a match-up with the Lancers should both teams make it in the semis.
The Green Lancers redeemed themselves after suffering that season-opening upset to enter the quarterfinal round with a 6-1 win-loss record, the same slate as that of
USJ-R’s.
The latter was relegated to second place by virtue of the winner-over-the-other rule.
UV was determined to win and zipped past the Jaguars with a 15-5 lead halfway in the first period behind the back-to-back triples of Ritchum Dennison, ending the opening frame with a 19-14 lead.
However, the Jaguars answered back with a furious 6-0 rally behind Jabe Delfino, Kurt Amores and Abulaiz Soliman to take the lead for a while.
UV’s Junjun Lasala scored a bucket to retake the lead and Von Lañete then scored the first of his three straight triples and pumped his fist in the air as he took UV to a 30-24 lead going into the third canto.
The third period became the real test for the Green Lancers as it was the time the Jaguars showed their real color.
Slam dunk
With their trapping defense and cheeky point guard Armand Ponce at the helm, USJ-R, particularly Ponce, rammed through UV defenders to take the lead, 42-38 with 3:55 in the third quarter.
Lañete then sliced the lead before Lasala scored a slam dunk to level the game at 43. Eventually, it was USJ-R who won that round, leading by a hairline, 47-46, going into the final round.
However, the intensity the Jaguars displayed in that gripping third period seemed to dissolve in the fourth.
Second stringers started the fourth period and UV capitalized on as they dropped a 7-0 bomb behind Harold Cincoflores to lead, 53-47, which they kept until the final buzzer.
USJ-R head coach Edito Salacot put back his reliable men to make the necessary repairs to the damage but his strong five showed no interest to make a comeback as they started shooting blanks from the perimeter, despite having excellent inside shooting in the third.
Dennison and Lañete led UV with 14 points each.
Ponce scored 11 points for the Jaguars, all scored in that intensity-filled third period while Delfino added 10.
