UC eyes clincher tonight UV, SHS-Ateneo to break tie

CEBU, Philippines - Defending champion University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters are eyeing for no less than a 3-0 sweep when they take on the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras in Game 3 of their best-of-five title series in the 11th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) basketball season today at the Cebu Coliseum.

Games today (Cebu Coliseum)

Game 3, Finals

5:15 pm SHS-AdC vs. UV (jrs.)

6:45 pm UC vs. SWU (srs.)

In the first game at 5:15 pm, the University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers and the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles renew their rivalry with similar goals of breaking a 1-all standoff.

The Webmasters took a commanding 2-0 series lead, but have to go through a five-minute extension before fending off the Cobras, 91-84. The overtime could have been prevented had pesky guard Francis Luigi Bercede made his two charities in the final 9.5 seconds of the regulation period.

Tonight will be the last chance for the Cobras to hang on or else they have to wait for the next season to achieve their championship dream especially that this will be the last playing year of 6-foot-9 center Junemar Fajardo with UC.

Manpower wise, the Cobras could match up with the Webmasters save for the fact that Fajardo is more dominant than SWU's 6-foot-6 Cameroonian center Justin Aboude. On the offensive end, Fajardo is also more productive than Aboude.

The other key elements to UC's advantage is that they have bigger pointguard in Quinton Brian Heruela, bigger forward in Edward Pao and bigger back-up center Alvin Lalolabo.

The Webmasters are also armed with reliable shooters in Robinson Mohammad, Gerald Ampoon and Jan Michael Auditor.

Aside from Aboude, the Cobras can count on the likes of Rene Pacquiao, Eleazar Armecin, Bonifacio Guillena and Mobert Arong.

Should the Webmasters emerge victorious, it will be the first sweep in a CESAFI Finals since the league adopted the best-of-five format three years ago. - THE FREEMAN