Rogado the hero as US nails No. 4 spot in Partner's Cup

CEBU, Philippines - Moncrief Rogado hit a floater just below the foul line with only a second left to play to power the Enervon C-UC Webmasters to a 74-72 squeaker over the Aerosol-USPF Panthers the other night in the 4th CESAFI Partner’s Cup at the Cebu Coliseum.

Games today

(Cebu Coliseum)

3 pm CIT vs. USPF (Jrs.)

4:30 pm USC vs. DBTC (Srs.)

6 pm CIT vs. USPF (Srs.)

The Webmasters, thus, grabbed the fourth spot and will enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage against the seventh qualifier in the next phase of the tournament.

In the other game, the PTT Fuels-UV Lancers prevented the Ave Maria Sanctuary Park-USJ-R Jaguars from scoring a sweep by carving out an 82-72 win. It was a non-bearing game though as the Jaguars are already the elimination round topnotcher while the Lancers are at the third spot.

The classification round ends today, with second placer San Marino Corned Tuna-USC Warriors going up against the Prime Asia-DBTC Greywolves.

The top four has already been settled after last Sunday’s games, with the Jaguars drawing a bye in the quarterfinals starting on March 6.

The fifth and sixth place will be up for grabs tonight between the Bibbo-CIT Wildcats and the Aerosol-USPF Panthers.

After UC’s 6-foot-9 center June Mar Fajardo knotted the count at 72-all, USPF still has 11 seconds to steal the win, but Michael Sereño lost handle of the ball when he stepped into a swep spot and teammate Ellison Rivera could’t save it from the baseline.

 In the ensuing sequence, Edward Pao made an inbound pass to Rogado, who then dribbled thrice before knocking in the game-clincher. Ironically, Rogado formerly played with the Panthers before he moved to UC’s camp.

Rogado finished with 11 points, but it was Kelvin Juliane who topscored for the Webmasters with 21 points spiked with four triples.

Randy Avila, the smallest guard of the Panthers, had 11 points followed by Elwin Durano and Rivera with 10 apiece.

Later, Harold Cincoflores fired 15 points and Edrian Lao added 13 for the Lancers, while Aniceto Lapiz, Jr. paced the Jaguars with 11 points.

 The scores

First game

Enervon-UC (74) - Juliane 21, Rogado 11, Fajardo 9, Mohammad 7, Gomez 5, Ampoon 4, Ypil 4, Delos Santos 3, Pao 3, Luceno 3, Miranda 2, Batino 1

 Aerosol-USPF (72) - Avila 11, Rivera 10, Durano 10, Tinoy 9,Dajalos 8, D. Ferraren 6, Labares 4, Bardillas 4, Filoteo 3, Ferraren 3, Misa 2, Sereno 2

Second game

PTT-UV (82) - Cincoflores 15, Lao 13, Saycon 9, Manigque 7, Calo 7, Abad 7, Silva 6, Rios 6, Mercader 5, Auditor 3, Seneres 2, Premacio 2

Ave Maria-USJ-R (72) - Lapiz 11, Gabas 9, Senining 8, Bibera 8, Amores 8, Suliman 7, Delfino 4, Villaver 4, Dela Rama 4, Bucayan 3, Duran 3, De la Peña 2, Ponce 1 (GGM)   (FREEMAN NEWS)