THE unpredictable University of Southern Philippines-Foundation (USPF) Panthers pulled off a shocking domination over the highly-rated University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars, 85-65, in the ongoing 1st Minglanilla Mayor’s Cup Inter-collegiate Christmas League at the Minglanilla Sports Complex Tuesday night.

Right after the tip-off, the Panthers dropped a big rally that caught the Jaguars by surprise to register their first win in three outings.

The victory that pushed winless USJ-R to the cellar also keeps the Panthers’ hopes alive for the crossover semifinals round of this tournament which has a total prize of more than P200,000.

Up by 10, 28-18, early, the Panthers, came up strong and managed to stretch the lead to as many as 19 points, 41-22, and never looked back until the final buzzer sounded.

Import Richie Managor paced USPF with 19 points while limiting his counterpart Totchokwu Ewenike to 14 points.

Meanwhile, USPF (1-2) was to face the University of the Visayas at press time last Dec. 12, while USJ-R (0-3) was to face Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras (1-2).

A Jaguars win and a Panthers loss will put the two in a triple tie with USJ-R at 1-3 and the quotient system will be used to determine the top four teams. However, USJ-R’s loss to SWU has virtually eliminated USJ-R.

In the other game, UV defeated SWU, 83-79, for its second game. (from BM of SuperBalita Cebu)