THE University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers continued their winning ways after a 76-66 rout of the University of Cebu-Lapu-Lapu Mandaue (UCLM) in the high school division of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) at the Cebu Coliseum on Saturday, June 22, 2019.
The Baby Lancers of coach Jun Pepito held off a late rally from UCLM in the fourth quarter to stay spotless and extend their win streak to four games in the Cesafi’s preseason tournament.
Pepito told SunStar Cebu in Cebuano the team is on an adjustment after majority of their key players, including the do-it-all forward Joshua Yerro, graduated.
“We only have five remaining players from last year,” said Pepito, adding that there’s no superstar on the team this season.
“We don’t have a superstar but most of my players can play even if we lack the height. You can trust them on the court,” he said.
UV showed just that when they came out blazing with a 24-10 run in the opening period before making it 42-26 at halftime.
“The team showed good composure on our first four games. But we can’t predict the outcomes yet on the regular season. We just have to come out ready every game,” said Pepito.
If the team will continue to play at the same level, Pepito said they can make it to the top four in the regular season and see where they can get from there.
“The team relies on our guards. They are small but they play smart basketball,” he said.
Pepito said the Partners Cup is part of the tryout process for UV’s lineup.
Currently we have 20 players; we are going to select 15 for the regular season. The others who will not be selected will be in Team B,” he said.
Albert John Sacayan led UV with a game-high 26, while John Fritz Banzon added 21.
UCLM did not go down without fighting as they managed to trim the deficit to six points, 66-72 with 1:50 to play. But UV remained composed and scored the last four points of the game for the final tally.
Resil Ybañez scored 21 and Darryl Guerrero canned in 14 for UCLM. (RSC)