Lancers down Webmasters in opener

CEBU, Philippines - Six-foot-11 center Gregory Slaughter struggled a bit in his offense but guards Phil Mercader and Ritchum Dennison made a huge impact at the endgame as eight-time champion University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers ran over tough challenger University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters, 64-56, in the opener of their best-of-five finals series for the collegiate title of the 9th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) basketball season last Thursday night at the Cebu Coliseum.

The Lancers, who trailed for most of the way, were down by 10 points, 48-38, with just three minutes gone by in the fourth period but they turned a sluggish start into a blazing finish using a furious 21-r to suddenly swoop the lead, 51-50, on Slaughter’s free throw at the final 4:33 mark of the contest.

The Webmasters quickly climbed back on top, 52-50, on a powerful drive by 6-foot-9 beanpole June Mar Fajardo against Slaughter, but Dennison sank a 3-point dagger in the ensuing play to push the Lancers ahead for good, 54-52.

Despite having a hard time in his match-up with Fajardo, Slaughter managed to topscore for the UV Lancers with 16 points. Mercader and Dennison chipped in 12 and 10 markers, respectively, as they avenged their opening day 73-75 loss to the Webmasters last August 2.

From the time they were ahead by 10, the Webmasters were in total wreck as the Lancers outscored them 24-8 in that span.

It was as sorry loss for the Webmasters as they opened the game with a 9-0 blast. The big-hearted Lancers easily wiped out that deficit though and pulled within just two points at the intermission, 25-27.

Fajardo had 21 points for the Webmasters, who have a lot of things to ponder as they head into Game 2 this Monday. The missing link for them in that UV debacle were Janssen Abella and Moncrief Rogado, who combined for only a measly 10 points.

In the secondary finals, the Cebu institute of Technology (CIT) Wildkittens drew first blood against the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars, 68-60, in their own race-to-3 showdown. The match was marred by a near bench-emptying melee that resulted into the suspension of CIT’s Joseph Nalos, John Merlow Gera and Carlo Figuracion and USJ-R’s Venjie Trozo for the rest of the season.

Trozo instigated the fracas when he elbowed CIT’s Franklyn Batiquin down to the floor, which also ignited a second motion by another Baby Jaguar Gudeve Edu Autentico.

The Wildkittens, who are gunning for their first title in CESAFI history, were led by Batiquin with 19 points followed by Mark Jayven Tallo with 18 points. Trozo and Autentico each scored 16 for the Baby Jaguars.

The scores

First game

CIT (68) - Batiquin 19, Tallo 18, Pamaong 9, Nalos 8, Sanchez 7, Gera 4, Limalima 2, Koino 2

 USJ-R (60) - Autentico 16, Trozo 16, Muñez 11, Go 5, Montecillo 4, Alob 3, Senining 2, Figues 2, Mante 1

Halftime: 32-23

Second game

UV (64) - Slaughter 16, Mercader 12, Dennison 10, Diputado 7, Lao 6, Cincoflores 5, Olivares 4, Cabahug 2, Señeres 2

UC (56) - Fajardo 21, Quilantang 7, Abella 6, Mohamad 5, Tano 5, Luceño 4, Rogado 4

Halftime: 25-27. – THE FREEMAN