UC gains share of lead
UC beats USPF in game marred by unsportsmanlike fouls, suspensions and penalities
THE UNIVERSITY of Cebu Baby (UC) Webmasters gained a share of the leadership in the high school division after dropping an emphatic 77-49 win on the still winless University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Baby Panthers in the opening of yesterday’s 2016 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum.
In the other high school game, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJR) Baby Jaguars are primed to make the quarterfinal round following an 83-62 win against the Southwestern University (SWU) Baby Cobras.
The win gave USJ-R its third win after five games, while SWU dropped to 2-3.
USPF had things covered at the start of the game and even led, 14-13, in the opening quarter, before losing track of the game when they started to getting into arguments with the referees.
Aside from incessant complaining, USPF started to get aggressive and played roughly that resulted to the disqualification of players, who incurred two unsportsmanlike fouls.
Christopher Isabelo and Kyle Nino Ochavo got two unsportsmanlike fouls each and that warranted their automatic suspension and a penalty of P5,000 each plus a community service of four hours each.
Coincidentally, the first player to be slapped with these penalties for this season was Joseph Ducay, another USPF player who was banished from the floor last Aug. 13 for punching a Southwestern University Baby Cobras player.
Ochavo got away with some of his cheap shots including mockery on the ref- eree before he was finally whistled for his second unsportsmanlike foul on Mardy Soco at the 8:34 mark of the fourth period.
He was then called for a technical foul for his unsportsmanlike behavior towards the officiating officials which was the third time he did it in front of the referees.
But it seems, there were calls the referees failed to make.
At the 44.3 seconds mark of the third quarter, USPF head coach Albert Alocillo complained on a call that sent a UC player to the free throw line.
Alocillo complained their was a foul but one of his assistants threw a mineral water bottle on the court, which could have warranted a graver penalty other than the technical foul on improper bench decorum slapped against the USPF bench.
The rough games continued and USPF received three more unsportsmanlike fouls - one each for Ochavo (8:34), Isabelo (5:24) and Kirchie Sullano (1:32) while UC continued to play composed despite the roughness of the opponents.
Yanick Enriquez led the Baby Webmasters to victory with 12 points and Medellin wonder boy Geleant Umpad added 11 markers as UC improved to 4-1, while George Cometa topscored with 16 points as USPF suffered its fourth defeat in as many games.