THE University of the Philippines (UP)-Cebu Fighting Maroons pulled off one of the major upsets in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (Cesafi) men’s basketball tournament when they stunned the heavily favored University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters with a 73-69 victory at the Cebu Coliseum on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025.
The win came after the Fighting Maroons endured three consecutive losses, the most recent being a 92-74 blowout against the defending champions University of the Visayas Green Lancers, on Sunday.
Team captain Andrew Padilla emerged as the Best Player of the Game, scoring 21 points — most of them in the crucial stretch — while adding seven rebounds and three assists without a single turnover in 35 minutes of play.
“Actually, we didn’t really have an option in our play. We just trusted the system of coach Rommel (Rasmo). We focused on our defense and we were able to limit their outside shooting,” said Padilla in a post-game interview.
The Fighting Maroons controlled the game through three quarters and ended the third with a 51-46 lead.
However, Charles Libatog played like a one-man wrecking crew in the shaded lane, leading a 7-2 rally that gave the Webmasters a temporary 55-50 lead with still 7:15 left in the fourth quarter.
For a while, it seemed, victory was already within UC’s grasp as Libatog continued to dominate and stretched the lead to 65-60 with 2:59 remaining.
But UC surprisingly collapsed thereafter, allowing UP to respond with an 8-0 run. Wenraye Sarol and Brandon Sainz took turns attacking the basket and lifted UP to a safe 71-66 lead with just 17 seconds left.
“When they had a run, we stayed together and stuck to our system, especially on defense,” Padilla said.
UC’s loss was compounded by poor free-throw shooting. Even veteran guard Neon Chavez missed all three of his attempts during the crucial stretch when they were most needed.
For coach Rasmo, scouting played a major role in the win.
“Honestly, I give the credit for scouting to my fellow coaches. They did a really good job preparing the team and the game plan, especially Coach Francis (Auquico). I’m so blessed to have them,” said Rasmo, who delegated head coaching duties to Auquico due to health reasons.
AJ Delos Reyes also made a significant impact, finishing with 13 points, while Sainz and Sarol contributed 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Libatog led the Webmasters with 20 points and six rebounds, while Ricofer Sordilla added 13 markers.
It was a double whammy for UC as its sister team, the Lapu-Lapu/Mandaue Baby Webmasters, suffered a 67-56 defeat at the hands of the Cebu Eastern College Dragons in the high school division.
Justine Parilla scored 23 points and grabbed five rebounds, while Kenneth Fuller added 16 points for the Dragons, who bounced back from their opening loss to the USJ-R Jaguar Cubs.
Dan Ferraren led the Baby Webmasters (1-1) with 22 points and seven rebounds. / JBM