Warriors, Cards battle provincial foes in C League

MANILA, Philippines - Provincial teams University of Visayas and University of Cebu plunge into action in the Philippine Collegiate Champions League today, taking on Mapua and University of the East, respectively, at The Arena in San Juan.

UC and UE clash at 2 p.m. then UV and Mapua collide at 4 p.m. at the resumption of the tournament featuring the best collegiate teams in the land.

The UV Green Lancers, being back-to-back CESAFI champions and perennial contenders in the PCCL, are favored over the Cardinals.

Handled by coach Boy Cabahug with Al Solis as assistant, the Lancers are bannered by 6-foot-11 behemoth Greg Slaughter and touted for their razzle-dazzle game.

UC is also a formidable team, placing second to UV in the recent CESAFI tourney.

The Webmasters, however, are likely to be in for a tough fight with the Warriors, losing finalists versus the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the 2009 UAAP joust.

UC will face sweet-shooting guard Paul Lee, forward Elmer Espiritu and hard-nosed center Pari Llagas in the contest staking a shot at the semis versus FEU.

The Lancers and the Cardinals, meanwhile, slug it out for the right to play the San Beda Red Lions in the Final Eight.

The Cardinals struggled in the recent NCAA championship and barely made the Champs League proper through the zonals of the event sponsored by PLDT, Smart, ABS-CBN, The Philippine STAR and Molten.

Ateneo and Letran are two other teams, which have made the Elite Eight with the Eagles trouncing the Lyceum Pirates and the Knights stunning the La Salle Archers in the Sweet 16 Wednesday with identical scores of 73-63.

The tourney swings to the south Monday with NCAA champion San Sebastian tangling with University of San Carlos and University of Santo Tomas tackling Jose Rizal U. – Nelson Beltran