CESAFI: USJ-R finishes daily sweep with college, HS wins

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R) have reason to celebrate after both the Jaguars and Baby Jaguars won convincingly over their respective opponents Thursday, August 25 to improve their standings in the ongoing basketball tournament of the 16th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc (CESAFI) held at the New Cebu Coliseum, downtown this city.

The Baby Jaguars recorded the most lopsided win so far this season by lambasting the Cebu Institute of Technology University (CIT-U) Wildkittens, 100-50, while their senior counterpart, the Jaguars, overcame a sluggish start to outlast the defending champion University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors, 75-61. The Jaguars were not able to defeat USC last season.

Despite their 10-man lineup being reduced to 9 following the one game suspension of Tricky Dyn Peromingan, the Jaguars seemed unfazed and even executed nice moves underneath the hoop, including a beautiful side step from Victor Baldo Nunez to free himself up from his defender and convert a wide open layup.  

The Baby Jaguars blowout win was led by John Kirck Gonzaga who finished with 15 points while Van Clemence Tindoy and Theo Gabriel Ranara chipped in 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Named Best Player in the collegiate contest was Ralph Jude “RJ” Dinolan, who was named into the Mythical 5 last season as a shooting guard. Dinolan, who did not start in the ballgame, topscored for the Jaguars with 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and one steal.

As in their previous games, Jaybie Mantilla and Juan Miguel Gastador were once again big factors in the ballgame as both finished with 15 points. 

The 3 topscorers’ efforts in the second quarter including 3 treys from Mantilla was a big factor in the Jaguars being able to close the gap against the Warriors and eventually taking a slim 1-point lead, 31-30, on Mantilla’s last trey before the halftime break.

The Warriors had the advantage in the first quarter with a 6-point lead at 18-12 but  after the Jaguars had taken a 31-30 lead, the Warriors could only watch helplessly as the Jaguars piled up on their advantage and eventually posted a 23-point lead, 65-42, going into the final canto.

The one bright spot for the defending champion was Kevin Oleodo whose 4 treys helped the Warriors cut down the Jaguars lead but still, the closest that they could manage was at 11 points, 58-69, on Victor Emmanuel Rabat’s jumper just before the last 2-minute count.

The win puts the USJ-R Jaguars in the solo second spot following a 3-2 win-loss record while the USC Warriors shares the third spot with the University of Cebu Webmasters with their 2-2 slate.

The Baby Jaguars, on the other hand, improved their standing to 2-2 while the Wildkittens have yet to win a game after 4 outings.

Scores

HS

USJ-R Baby Jaguars (100) – Gonzaga 15, Tindoy 11, Ranara 12, Ando 11, Echavez 8, Santillan 8, Camacho 6, Membrano 6, Robles 6, Leonora 5, Cruz 4, Ortiz 3, Teleron 3, Domingo 2

CIT-U Wildkittens (50) – Ares 17, Hapin 15, Tarriman 8, Abinuman 5, Suson 3, Lazaga 2

COLLEGE

USJ-R Jaguars (75) – Dinolan 20, Gastador 15, Mantilla 15, Navarra 10, Nunez 10,  Catiloc 2, Sealana 2, Jopia 1

USC Warriors (61) – Oleodo 12, Rabat 10, Tubiano 8, Catapusan 6, Ntumba 6, Tan 6, Munez 4, Langres 3, Divinagracia 2, Ecarma 2, Laguyo 2             

Games August 27, Saturday

HS

1 pm- SHS-AdC vs DBTC

2:30 pm – CEC vs UV

4 pm – USC vs CIT-U

 

COLLEGE

5:30 pm – SWU vs UC – Rappler.com