UV eyes another Grand Slam glory, UC hoping to be third time lucky

CEBU, Philippines — Will it be another Grand Slam glory for the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers or it’s going to be third time lucky for the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters?

This is the big question arising from the highly anticipated best-of-three finals showdown between the two best collegiate basketball teams in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) Season 24 that will kick off today (Thursday, December 5) at the Cebu Coliseum.

The expected slam-bang hardcourt battle is set to begin at 6 p.m.

The Lancers are setting their sights on a second three-peat under the guidance of coach Gary Cortes, who is now on his eighth straight Finals appearance since taking over UV’s coaching reins since 2015.

During that spectacular run, Cortes piloted the Lancers to five titles, including three straight from 2016 to 2018.

Now, the Lancers are going after that feat again but Cortes has tempered down expectations for his team knowing that they are up for a tough challenge against the unbeaten Webmasters who dealt them their first and only loss so far this season.

“Playing against the undefeated UC is more challenging and enjoyable,” said Cortes. “We will just do our very best to achieve our goal of a 3-peat repeat.”

On UC’s side, coach Kernn Sesante will try again to end their 13-year title drought after two failed attempts against the Lancers.

The Webmasters, then led by June Mar Fajardo, last won a championship back in 2011.

Inspired by their elimination round success where they completed a historic 8-0 sweep followed by a repeat performance over the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars in the Final Four,  the Webmasters will go all out for the marbles once more.

“First of all, I am very grateful for the blessing of competing in the Finals for the third consecutive time. Sweeping the games in the eliminations and the semis was no easy task. The boys really worked hard and sacrificed a lot for it,” Sesante said.

“I expect the boys to be more composed than last year. So far, they have shown composure during two very close games against UP (eliminations) and USJ-R (semis). With that, I believe we have better chances of finally overcoming UV this time,” Sesante added.