UV, UC ‘battle to the death’
Lancers, Webmasters in do-or-die Game 3 for CESAFI title
Who will land the killer punch? With the series back to square one, the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers and the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters take the stage one last time in a do-or-die duel for the collegiate division championship of the 17th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) men's basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum today.
The surefire blockbuster match is set at 4 pm, with the defending champion Lancers going after their 12th crown overall and the Webmasters seeking to end their six-year title drought.
The Webmasters drew first blood in the best-of-three finals with an emphatic 85-77 win last Wednesday, but the Lancers lived and fight for another day courtesy of a rousing 77-66 victory in Game 2 two nights ago.
Now that they battle it out to the death with all the marbles at stake, there must be no room for mistake for the two protagonists.
And both the Lancers and the Webmasters know the weight they carry as they gun for the ultimate prize of the league this season.
Not only that they will play with a lot of aggressiveness on both ends and hit their targets with super fine precision, they must also fight with their hearts out. Whichever side manifests all of these elements is bound for cloud nine.
"Game 3 is going to be a battle royale," said Lancers coach Gary Cortes. "I will try to use all the talents of our Green Lancers. I know they also have the pride and honor. We're going to play hard until the final buzzer."
Likewise, UC's decorated bench tactician Raul 'Yayoy' Alcoseba expressed readiness of facing the challenge that lies ahead of them.
"I'm confident with my boys. We have come a long way so we have to bring out best this Sunday. This will be one for the record books. We will win come Sunday!" declared Alcoseba, Cebu's winningest collegiate coach with five titles from three different schools tucked under his belt.
The match-up of imports in Cameroonian Frederick Elombi of UC and Liberian Bassieru Sackor of UV will again be a decisive factor that can gauge the outcome of the winner-take-all tussle. The locals, of course, are also hard-pressed to deliver. For the Lancers, they must squeeze the most from the likes of Rey Suerte, Jerome Napao, Tristan Albina, Monic Soliva, Josue Segumpan, Jayson Balabag and Sheldon Gahi as they seek to defend their throne.
On the other hand, Alcoseba will pin his hopes on Justin Dacalos, John Calvin Jabello, Garex Puerto, Ruben Ludovice, Joren Tagudin and Mark Olmilla to deliver UC's first crown since 2011.
Whatever they have in their minds, expect the Coliseum to be transformed into a suspense-filled theatre as the Lancers and the Webmasters slug it out for glory only one of them will attain.