Lancers nail point
THE University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers made the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Panthers sitting ducks on their way to score an emphatic 98-73 in the college quarterfinal round of the 2016 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum last night.
Not even the fact that the Lancers fielded rookies and second stringers in the final period could prevent a lopsided conclusion that sent the Panthers packing for home as they played their final game of the season.
“The boys just played their best to avoid playing a pressure game. This win gives us another day of rest and prepare for our game plans for the semis. We will just take one game at a time there (semifinal round). We need to correct the mistakes we made in the elimination round. And, hopefully, we play our best,” Cortes told Sun.Star Cebu after the game.
End
The season also ended for the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters as they yielded the semifinal slot to the defending champions University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors following a hardly fought 68-66 decision in the other quarterfinal game.
Victor Rabat doused the hopes of the Webmasters to turn the tide around as he drilled three triples in the final two minutes and 46 seconds of the game that proved to be the winning baskets of the game.
Scottie Ntumba then snapped UC’s last efforts after scoring a put back in the final 14.1 seconds after Justin Dacalos sank a triple that put UC within 64-66 16 seconds earlier.
Ntumba and Kevin Oleodo had 14 points each and Rabat finished with 10 for USC.
Dacalos scored 15 and Garciano Puerto made 10 points for the Webmasters’ final game of the season.
Slot
One more slot is left for the semifinal round and it will be contested by the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) and the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats at 5:15 pm on Thursday.
Newly crowned 3-point king Tristan Albina found his marks early as he lead the first quarter blast by scoring 10 of the team 24 points output.
USPF however, was not far behind as they put up a gallant stand behind the hot scoring game of Kimo Bajamunde that prevented UV from pulling away early.
But with only Bajamunde making huge contributions among coach Albert Alocillo’s boys, compared to the three-pronged offensives of coach Gary Cortes, UV started to pull away following a 24-17 blast that gave the Green Lancers a 48-33 lead going to the halftime break.
The third was a nightmare for the Panthers as their offense was clipped by the unforgiving defense of the Lancers.
With Albina again connecting and Bassieru Sackor dominating the middle, UV held USPF to just nine points as the lead ballooned to 30, 72-42.
The huge margin allowed Cortes to rest his starters and field his rookies.
That move however did not helped the cause of the Panthers as coach Alocillo had to reshuffle his players to find a suitable combination inside the court.
Although USPF scored 31 points, UV made 26 that prevented the Panthers from taking over the match.
Albina scored 18 points, Rey Suerte made 17 and Sackor finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds while Bajamunde fired the game high 23 points but was the only USPF player to score in double digit.