THE University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors ended the first round on a victorious note as they defeated the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters, 75-59, in the 2019 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (Cesafi) men’s basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum on Sunday, September 29, 2019.
Two-guard Froilan Mangubat finally snapped out of his shooting slump and sparked a 15-2 third period surge with three straight three-pointers to put the Warriors up by 20, 46-26, at the 5:50 mark of the third canto.
USC waxed hot from beyond the arc all evening long as they sank a total of 12 three-pointers.
UC tried to rally and pulled to within 12, 56-68, after five straight points by Darrell Shane Menina but Mangubat found Nigerian forward Sommy Managor for a deuce, Kurt Trangia sank a triple and Mangubat scored a breakaway layup to put the game away.
Mangubat, who had been in a horrendous shooting slump, waxed hot in the second half where he scored all 19 of his points including five from beyond the rainbow area.
Magic Marata added 16 points and eight rebounds while Trangia and Jules Langres had 13 and 11 markers, respectively.
UC was led by Menina’s 25 points while Tosh Sesay had 10 points and 14 rebounds. The Webmasters had their two-game winning streak snapped and are now at 2-3. (SunStar Cebu)