SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles clinched their third straight juniors division title in the CESAFI men’s basketball tournament in a record setting Game 3 after carving an 88-53 victory over the Universty of Cebu (UC) Junior Webmasters, the most lopsided finals game ever in CESAFI history on Saturday, October 10.
The match gathered a crowd that nearly filled the coliseum, with blue and white clad Magis Eagles supporters choosing one side and the golden yellow and blue garbed UC supporters filling the other side.
Top wingman Jed Cedrick Colonia, 16, who has been very instrumental this season for the Magis Eagles, was aptly named as the Most Valuable Player.
“My winning the MVP award was a bonus, the real mission was winning this championship. Our focus was really on winning CESAFI,” said Colonia.
Colonia admitted that he had taken the absence of Joshua Sinclair as a challenge to step up his game this season. Sinclair was disqualified from playing after CESAFI deemed him ineligible for the juniors division following his transfer to Cebu from Australia.
According to CESAFI rules, a player can only play for 5 years after graduating elementary.
After losing Game 1 of the finals series, Colonia said that he really felt down but decided that maybe it was God’s plan for them to humble themselves.
“The coaches motivated us, they told us it is not yet done, that we still have a chance,” said Colonia when asked how he worked his way out of that situation.
Having only a one day rest before Game 3, Colonia said that the team had to discipline themselves to focus on the game.
Colonia was joined by two other Magis Eagles in the Mythical 5 – Power Forward Eroll Pastor and point guard Travis Jelour Mantua.
Rounding up the Mythical Five were University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers center Raul Jancork Cabahug and UC Junior Webmasters small forward Froilan Mangubat.
Magis Eagles head coach Rommel Rasmo said their margin of victory was a welcome surprise, given their respect for the UC team.
“We just encouraged our boys to play our game, to play the Magis Eagles basketball because that is the reason why we went 11-0 (referring to their winning streak),” said Rasmo.
This was echoed by CESAFI president Father Manny Uy, also the SHS-AdC president, who said that he was happy that the UC Junior Webmasters extended the finals series to show the competitiveness of the league.
Rasmo admitted that he was nervous at the start of Game 3, but was happy about the victory.
“We did it together in a classy way.”
Visser, Mantua step up big
Alex Roeland Visser and team captain Mantua stepped up big in Game 3 with Visser finishing the season with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds. Mantua, on the other hand, was the man of the match with his 12 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals.
“We encouraged him to be patient, to wait for his time and we are very happy that he responded in this game,” said Rasmo, who added that he was confident that Visser would be able to pull it off because he knows the player’s capabilities.
UC Chancellor Candice Gotianuy braved the humidity inside the coliseum to support the Junior Webmasters despite nursing an injury. She later consoled the team after the game.
Mangubat continued to soar for the Junior Webmasters with 15 points.
It was the first time in the entire finals series that the Magis Eagles looked as composed as they first started out this season wherein they swept the eliminations. They thoroughly outhustled the Junior Webmasters in all areas.
Indeed the Magis Eagles was so focused in finishing what they started that they opened the first quarter with a 16-3 run.
The Junior Webmasters was able to recover a bit but was only able to stave off 3 points from the Magis Eagles’ advantage as they continued to trail by 10 points, 10-20, going into the second quarter.
The Magis Eagles manned their paint well that the Junior Webmasters had trouble penetrating and were forced to hit from the outside which did not bode well as they were missing their attempts.
The Magis Eagles continued to pull away in the second canto with Visser just getting warmed up by hitting back-to-back baskets to tow his team to a 13-point lead, 35-22.
Wayne Kirby Bersaluna closed the first half with a layup that gave the Magis Eagles an 18-point lead as the game went into the halftime break.
The Magis Eagles continued their scoring spree with Visser accounting for 10 points in the third canto alone and the rout spilled over into the final quarter as they posted their highest lead at 41 points with 2:04 left on a rainbow shot from John Emmanuel Chen.
There was a bit of a commotion from the spectators side while the Junior Webmasters called for a timeout in the third quarter when a man was accused of taking the cellphone of one of the spectators. But all ended well when the cellphone was returned and the man was seen escorted out.
Scores:
SHS-AdC (88) – Colonia 20, Visser 18, Pastor 13, Mantua 12, Bersaluna 8, Chen 5, Javelosa 4, Chua 3, P. Yu 2, Manaytay 2, Calumpang 1, J. Yu 0.
UC (53) – Mangubat 15, Gabisan 8, Soco 8, Umpad 7, Cuyos 5, Abejo 4, Malubay 3, Pando 1, Ecal 0, Hemida 0, Santome 0, Labrada 0, Cabansay 0, Florita 0.
Quarter Scores: 20-10; 42-24; 70-32; 88-53. – Rappler.com
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.