THE University of the Visayas (UV) had a double celebration on Saturday, October 19, 2024, when both its college and high school teams whipped their opponents in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum.
The UV Lancers, the defending champions in the tertiary level, clobbered the Cebu Institute of Technology - University (CIT-U) Wildcats, 95-75, while the Baby Lancers completely devastated the University of Cebu (UC) Baby Webmasters, 75-50, to snap the latter’s winning streak in the high
school division.
Raul Gentallan led the Lancers to their third triumph with 21 points and three steals. Kent Ivo Salarda made 15 point, Rovelo Robles had 14, and Froiland Maglasang added 10 for UV.
UV closely fought CIT-U in the first quarter, but broke away in the middle of the second frame and ended the half at 52-37.
From thereon, UV’s aggressiveness on both ends of the floor was unstoppable, and even posted its biggest lead in the game at 30 points,
93-63.
Jerian Marc Abello topscored for the losing Wildcats with 14 points, Edgar Steven Sajol finished with 13, Nono Matthew Paras had 12, and Josiah Gideon Villamayor logged 10 notches.
UV now shares the top spot with the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters and the Benedicto College (BC) Cheetahs, each holding a 3-0 card.
“So far sa 3-0 namong kadaugan, niagi gyud mi og quarter nga nag struggle. Hopefully sa coming games namo maka-adjust na mi nga from the start to finish quality ang among duwa (So far, in our 3-0 victories, we really went through a quarter where we struggled. Hopefully, in our upcoming games, we can adjust so that our play is of high quality from start to finish),” said multi-titled UV head coach Gary Cortes. “Pero ang mga veterans, mi deliver sila (But the veterans,
they delivered).”
Meanwhile, the Baby Lancers, with Christophelcian Abellana taking charge of the rainbow territory, never gave the Baby Webmasters enough breathing room as they waxed hot from different spots of
the court.
What compounded most in UC’s first loss in six games was their poor showing from beyond the arc where they converted only one of 20 tries, while UV made 13 treys out of 41 attempts.
Ironically, it was a surprise victory for the Baby Lancers, who were expecting a stiff competition from the erstwhile unbeaten team. But the match turned into a lopsided affair that caught most of Cesafi followers also
by surprise.
Abellana, son of former UC pointguard Ope Abellana, led UV with 19 points, including five three-pointers, while Roderick Cambarijan, John dela Torre, and Kenneth Cole added 11
points each.
Dio Gonzales topscored for the Baby Webmasters with nine points.
Like their seniors squad, the UV Juniors forged a three-way tie at the top of the standings with their victims and the Cebu Eastern College Dragons at 5-1.
In the other high school games, CIT-U claimed its third win in five games at the expense of the winless USC Warriors, 70-62, while the Cebu Roosevelt Memorial Colleges Baby Mustangs barged into the win column by crushing the BC Baby Cheetahs, 81-67. / JBM