CEBU, Philippines - The University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars and the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildkittens gun for a 2-0 sweep against their respective rivals in the battle for third place in the 12th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) basketball season today at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Jaguars drew first blood against the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters, 74-59, in their best-of-three series, in the same way with the Wildkittens over the Cebu Eastern College (CEC) Dragons, 81-78.
Thus, the Jaguars and the Wildkittens need only one more win to take home the third place trophty.
USJ-R's vaunted one-two punch in Abulaiz Suliman and Miguel Tabaloc will again be their most lethal weapon as they seek for a repeat performance over the dethroned champions. They can also count on the likes of
Jason Olbedado, Banjo Capillar, Medjet dela Rama and Christian Parker.
The depleted Webmasters, on the other hand, are expected to draw firepower from Quinton Brian Heruela, Robinson Mohammad, Kido Cabrera, Kevin Quilantang and Val Cueva.
UC will see action without Kim Gomez and Jan Michael Auditor who are both nursing from an injury.
In the juniors side, the Wildkittens will bank on the likes of Carl Anthony Patindol, Mark Kong, Kressner Jabines and Marl Vincent Laguna, while Dragons will rely on Mark Vincent Berdera, Alfons Alvizo, Michael Lorenzo Balankig, Dominic Yap and Jesus Manuel Grijaldo among others.
Meanwhile, the championship games will be played in separate dates to give more prominence and mileage to the high school contenders.
The juniors finals between the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles and defending champion University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers will start on Monday, while Game 1 of the highly-anticipated championship showdown between the UV Lancers and Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras will begin on September 25. (FREEMAN)