CEBU, Philippines - Society of Divine Word (SVD) priests traded their cassocks for basketball jerseys and succeeded in reigning supreme over XVD squad, 77-73, in a rip-roaring basketball exhibition game yesterday at the University of San Carlos (USC)-Main gym.
Team XVD, which is composed of former SVD seminarians, made an impressive start after posting a commanding 8-point lead at the half behind the efforts of Vic Canseco, a former Cebu Doctors’ University (CDU) cager.
However, the Fr. Andy Guban-mentored SVD did not lose hope and closed the gap in the third behind Fr. Jimmy Sales and Fr. Serge Paganao.
Fr. Paganao led the way for SVD by scoring 19 points and was backed by Fr. Sales and Fr. Joey Sepe with 25 points combined.
Canseco and Jone Sepe powered XVD with a menacing 42 and 22 points, respectively, but for a losing cause.
“We decided to have basketball since this was the main sport in the seminary. This tournament serves to be a recall of the days we have in the seminary, but its no longer the same as it used to be since most of us have come of age,” said Rome-based Superior General Fr. Antonio Pernia, SVD.
The said exhibition match was one of the highlights of the centennial celebration of the Societas Verbi Divini (SVD) since its founding in the Philippines on August 15, 1909. — Marigold P. Lebumfacil (THE FREEMAN)