CEBU, Philippines - With four cagers playing at their finest at the same time, no team can ever go wrong.
Such was the case of the University of Cebu Junior Webmasters in dropping another bombshell in the 15th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. men's basketball tournament last night at the Cebu Coliseum.
Froilan Mangubat sparkled with 28 points on top of nine rebounds and three steals, while three others punched in solid double-double figures as the Junior Webmasters stunned the Baby Warriors, 76-66, to kick off their campaign in the juniors division semifinals.
Jason Abejo charted 16 points spiked with 10 rebounds and Jelmark Umpad nearly came up with a historic quadruple-double finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and six steals for the Junior Webmasters, who gamely recovered from lackluster performance in the first quarter on the way to send the Baby Warriors wobbling.
The Junior Webmasters had a sluggish start resulting into a nine-point decifit after the first 10 minutes of play, 8-17.
The wards of lawyer Baldomero "Merong" C. Estenzo and Jovir Samonte, however quickly found their range in the third period where they outclassed the Baby Warriors, 22-9, to wrest the upperhand at halftime, 30-26.
There's no stopping the Juniors Webmasters from thereon. After closing the third period with a 55-47 lead, they further made it a 66-50 count early in the final 10-minute mark of the contest.
The closest the Baby Warriors could come was at 66-72 with a little over a minute left to play as the Juniors Webmasters maintained their cool when the game was on the line. After Luigi Gabisan scored on a soaring layup, Mangubat calmly knocked in two free throws to finally snuff the air out of the Baby Warriors' nose with eight seconds remaining.
Gabisan chipped in 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Junior Webmasters, who has somehow erased the sting of their 67-76 loss to the Baby Warriors during their August 8 encounter.
With only two players at work in Ken Gato and Alje Mendoza who finished with 14 and 13 markers, respectively, the Baby Warriors were obviously no match against the rapid-firing Junior Webmasters. (FREEMAN)