Jaguars notch fourth straight victory
Veteran hardcourt warrior Luther Luke Justiniani sparkled brightly as the rampaging
Justiniani, the CESAFI player of the week, finished with 17 points, including two three-points plays in the final two minutes of the game that extinguished USC’s comeback hopes. He was heavily backed up by Armand Ponce and John Malinao with 22 points combined.
On several occasions during the final half, the Warriors tried but failed in their bid to complete a daring rally. The closest they could come was at 50-53 on a basket by Giovanni Padillo with
Big man Kurt Amores, a prized rokie from Zamboanga del Norte, scored a basket for a 55-50 lead before Justiniani made it 57-50 to close the period.
The Jaguars kept their relentless offensive to pad their lead to 14 points, 66-52. The Warriors staged a mini-rally, but the USJ-R stalwarts retaliated with a more ferocious attack to practically seal the match with an imposing 18-point bulge, 76-58, at the final two-minute mark.
Thus, the Jaguars firmed up their grip of the overall lead with an immaculate 4-0 record, while the Warriors, who draw 18 points from Paul Joven and 15 from star center Enrico Llanto, slipped to 2-2.
Today, archrivals University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers and the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras will dispute the solo second place as they go up against each other 6 pm, right after the juniors division match between the USJ-R Baby Jaguars and the Cebu Eastern College (CEC) Dragons at 4:30 pm.
The scores
USJ-R (77) - Justiniani 17,
USC (64) - Joven 18, Llanto 15, Cortes 9, Cantonao 5, Bakker 4, Igao 4, Bautista 4, Rowe 3, Hermosa 2
Halftime: 37-28
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