9th CESAFI season opens today

CEBU, Philippines - A surefire explosive double-header will kick off the 9th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) basketball season today at the Cebu Coliseum.

Last season's runner-up University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars will square off against third placer University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors in the the main offering at 4:30 pm, right after the secondary battle between the comebacking Sacred Heart School-Jesuit (SHS-J) Eagles against the USC Baby Warriors at 4 pm.

As usual, the region's premiere school-based cage league will blast off in an elaborate and grand fashion highlighted by the 'Dance Palabas' showdown. The colorful opening bash promptly starts with the parade of competing teams at 1 pm.

Both armed with confidence and promise, the rookie-laden Jaguars hope they will start in the right direction, while the Warriors just want their old reliables maintain focus on the game.

Having seven rookies in their roster, the Jaguars will tap the services of at least five holdovers led by Kurt Amores, a bulky but mobile big man who has a big shoe to fill in.

Amores will play alongside Edmar Pateño, Jerome Villaver, Marvin Duran and Edwin Bibera. He will be matched up with USC's lanky center Joven Cid Cortes.

Though Amores and Cortes pale in comparison with the likes of 6-foot-11 Gregory Slaughter of UV and 6-foot-9 June Mar Fajardo of UC, they have shown significant improvements owing to their participation in other leagues during the CESAFI offseason.      

The rest of the Jaguars' lineup are Aniceto Lapiz, Jr., Abolaiz Suliman, Jaymar de la Peña and rookies Carlo Albarillo, Joel Alquizola, Midjet de la Rama, Jason Nudalo, Dindo Pacinio, Christian Senining and Aaron Tiong.

Ryan Carlo Padayao, on the other hand, will mark his return from last year's absence hoping he can lead the Warriors this time more so in the offensive end to compliment Sam Hermosa, Giovanni Padillo and Gino Gallarde.

The other Warriors to count on are Paul Joven, Luigi Bercede, Michael Cantonao, Alfred Vitug, Eddie Bakker, Robert Gines Codilla, Nilton Otida, Mark Panerio, and Mel Duran. (THE FREEMAN)