THE University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars will return to the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) men’s basketball finals for the first time after a decade.
The Jaguars erased a 21-point deficit in the first half to fashion out a convincing 80-66 win over the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors in the semifinals at the Cebu Coliseum yesterday.
The Jaguars, which was armed with a twice-to-beat advantage and needed only a win to make it to the finals, struggled with a slow start and found themselves down by as much as 21 in the early part of the second quarter.
The Jaguars started the game with a spotty shooting and trailed, 24-7, after the first quarter.
USJ-R came back to life in the latter part of the second quarter thanks to team captain Jaybie Mantilla, who unleashed four three-pointers from a 4-of-7 shooting in that quarter. The Jaguars eventually cut the lead to 45-37 at the half.
The Jaguars stepped on the gas pedal in the third quarter and outscored the Warriors, 22-8, to steal the driver’s seat and take a 59-53 edge going to the final quarter.
The Jaguars did not look back from there as Mantilla and Ubalde connived early in the fourth quarter to give USJ-R a double-digit lead, 74-64. Ubalde put a nail on the coffin with a trey with 1:07 left.
Last year, USJ-R also had a twice-to-beat advantage but fell to the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters. The last time they made it to the finals was in 2008 where they ended up losing to the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers.
“It’s really a much unexpected season for us. First we never expected to get the No. 1 spot in the elimination. Then now we have finally made it to the championship round,” Mantilla told SunStar Cebu after the game. “I won the Season MVP last year but it was not complete since we were eliminated in the semis. This time around, we will give it our all in the championship. We have been playing together for a long time and there’s chemistry already.”
Mantilla, now on his last year for the school, was two assists shy away of a triple-double with 22 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. RSC