Baby Jaguars in finals

CEBU, Philippines - The University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars are for real.

Needing another win to topple defending champion University of Cebu (UC) for a junior’s finals slot, the Baby Jaguars did just that by winning 80-74 in Game 2 of their semifinals series at the Cebu Coliseum last night.

USJ-R, who entered the semifinals as fourth seed, now enjoys a big moral booster against any opponent in the finals. The Baby Jaguars will face either the University of the Visayas (UV) or Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) Wildkittens.

The Wildkittens won over the second seed Baby Lancers 73-65 yesterday to force a rubbermatch.

UC’s loss was a big letdown. The Junior Webmasters finished the elimination round with a perfect 8-0 card including a 101-93 thumping of USJ-R.

Rookie point guard Arlister Escatron of USJ-R played like a seasoned campaigner as hit seven triples to send UC packing. He finished with 26 points.

Clint Muñez added 23 points for USJ-R.

USJ-R also showed it could play defense. UC had the upper hand after two quarters but the Baby Jaguars struck early in the fourth quarter by stifling UC’s stalwarts Alfred Codilla and Alvin Labolabo Jr. Codilla could only shoot four points while Labolabo had seven points.

Mark Jayven Tallo, on the other hand, single-handedly carried the Wildkittens over UV by scoring 32 points.

Gerald Legarde led UV’s losing cause with 24 points.

THE SCORES

FIRST GAME

USJ-R (80) – Escatron 26, Munez 23, Autentico 10, Trozo 8, Go 5, Montecillo 4, Alob 3

UC (74) – Ampoon 21, Pingoy 18, Talisic 12, Labolabo 7, Aranas 6, Codilla 4.

SECOND GAME

CIT (73) – Tallo 32, Batiquin 9, Nalos 7, Limalima 7, Pamaong 6, Sanchez 5, Koino 4, Abad 2.

UV (65) – Legarde 24, Ybanez 8, Marata 8, Pero 8, Linao 7, Arong 3, Smith 1. (THE FREEMAN)