Warriors complete semis cast in CESAFI hoopla

CEBU, Philippines - Sam Hermosa scored crucial six points in the final two minutes including a booming triple as the third-seed University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors scored a 66-58 victory over the sixth-ranked University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars to complete the semifinal cast of the 10th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) basketball season yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.

The Warriors, who needed a playoff in order to advance because of their 57-61 loss the other day, joined three other qualifiers who made it outright into the semifinals led by nine-time champion and topseed University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers, second-seed University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters and fourth-seed Southwestern University.

Hermosa showed up so timely when the Jaguars overcame a 14-point deficit as hedrilleds in six straight points that padded their lead to nine points, 65-56, with still 1:14 left in the contest.

He led the foul-troubled Warriors with 17 points, while Giovanni Padillo and Joven Cid Cortes added 13 points each.

The Jaguars, who were down by 14 points, 50-36, at the 1:14 mark of the third period, came back in the fourth period when they forced the Warriors into four consecutive fouls early and closed the gap to just three points, 56-59 going into the final 2:20 of the contest.

It was also in that instance that Hermosa showed his heroics and led the Warriors’ nightmarish semifinal campaign and offsetted a very poor showing from June Michael Cantonao who went scoreless.

Only Kurt Amores finished in double figures for the Jaguars with 10 points as they ended their campaign early in their worst CESAFI season ever.

The scores

USC (66) - Hermosa 17, Cortes 13, Padillo 13, Codilla 9, Otida 8, Panerio 5, Santos 1

USJ-R (58) - Amores 10, Bibera 9, Nudalo 8, Lapiz 5, Senining 4, Dela Peña 4, Albarillo 4, Capillar 3, Muñez 3, Suliman 3, Tabaloc 3, Bucayan 2 Halftime: 35-25 (FREEMAN)