CESAFI CAGEFEST UC beats UV, 78-67

CEBU, Philippines - The University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters strengthened their hold of the lead after beating University of the Visayas (UV) last Sunday to go 4-0 in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum.

It was 6-9 pivot man June Mar Fajardo, who did the most damage to UV as he top scored for the Webmasters with 30 points.

The 78-67 victory did not only strengthen UC’s hold of the lead, but also reaffirmed its dominance over the Green Lancers, which they also beat during last year’s championship series.

Games today:

(Cebu Coliseum)

1 p.m. -- USPF vs. CIT-U (Sec.)

2:30 pm -- USJ-R vs. CEC (Sec.)

4 p.m. -- USPF vs. UV (Coll.)

5:30 p.m. -- USC vs.

USJ-R (Coll.)

Earlier, the University of Southern Philippines-Foundation (USP-F) Panthers defeated the winless Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats, 82-71 to improve to a 3-1 record, which puts them at second place. 

With only two more games left in the elimination round, the Webmasters need only to beat the Wildcats and the Panthers to complete a sweep.

Fajardo, the MVP in last year's finals steering the Webmasters to their first-ever CESAFI crown, put his defenders Edrian Lao and Andrew Avillanoza into foul trouble. This allowed him to take full control of the painted area.

With the men assigned to him in foul trouble, Fajardo scored from all corners and controlled the boards aside from also making it hard for the shooters of UV with his swats.

UC hit the ground running opening the game with a 20-7 lead in the first period.

Fajardo sat in the second canto, but UC still had complete control posting a 40-26 lead at the half.

After a sluggish start, the Green Lancers came charging in the third outscoring UC, 31-21 to close the gap to four, 57-61, going into the final canto.

It was again a UC show in the last quarter as UV got into early foul trouble with still 7:12 left in the game.

Fajardo was obviously the star of the UC show with his teammates happily playing the supporting roles.

Luigi Bercede, Robinson Mohammad and the bulldozing Quinton Brian Heruela all contributed double digits.

For the Green Lancers, Jerome Silva had 13 points while Lao and Phil Mercader had 12 and 10 points, respectively as their team dropped to a 3-2 win-loss record.   

In the other game, James Ferraren scored 23 points to lead the Panthers while Joseph Sedurifa added 18 markers.   

The Wildcats, who now have a 0-4 win-loss record, were led by Allan Dimco with 29 points and John Michael Graf had five triples of his 15 points.     (FREEMAN)