JAGUARS PERCH ON PEDESTAL
Working its way up in the semifinals, USJ-R earns a spot after beating the CIT-U Wildcats, 106-77
The University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars were under the radar in most parts of the 2018 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi). The team quietly worked their way to the top and in the mix of title contenders.
The Jaguars earned the No. 1 seed going to the semifinals after beating the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats, 106-77, to end the men’s basketball elimination round with a bang at the Cebu Coliseum yesterday.
The Jaguars finished the double-round robin elimination with an identical 9-3 (win-loss) card with the two-time defending champion University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers and last year’s runner-up the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters.
The Jaguars got the better end of the three-way tie, finishing with the highest tiebreak output of 1.0839 using the Olympic quotient system over UV’s .9966 and UC’s .9102, according to Cesafi’s deputy commissioner Danny Duran.
The Jaguars will be going to the semifinals armed with a twice-to-beat advantage against the fourth-seeded team.
This is the first time in the school’s Cesafi basketball history that they clinched the No. 1 seed after the elimination round.
The Green Lancers, meanwhile, earned the No. 2 seed and the last twice-to-beat incentive. They will face their bitter rivals-the third-seeded Webmasters in a heavyweight clash. The semifinals is calendared on Oct. 20.
For USJ-R, they will either face the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors (4-7) or the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USP-F) Panthers (5-7). The Warriors play a win-or-go-home game against the Southwestern University (SWU-Phinma) Cobras (2-9) as of press time.
Reigning league MVP Jaybie Mantilla scored 25 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out nine assists to lead the Jaguars in a blowout win.
USJ-R’s import Tochukwu Ewnike handed 14 points, Juan Miguel Gastador added 13, Rickaydyn Peromingan chipped in 12, while Ralph Jude Dinolan and Fletcher Cris Galvez handed 11 points each.
Jaguars wasted no time as they rushed to 31-12 lead after the opening quarter. The lead erected by as much as 27 in the second quarter.