Lancers near ninth straight crown

CEBU, Philippines - The University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers bounced back from an overtime defeat in style, hacking out a masterful 81-67 demolition of the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five finals series in the 9th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) men’s basketball tournament last Tuesday night at the Cebu Coliseum.

Game today

(Cebu Coliseum)

Game 4, Finals

5:30 pm UC vs. UV

The Lancers of coach Elmer “Boy” Cabahug could wrap up their ninth straight championship if they hurdle tonight’s Game 4 but they must be extra cautious as the Webmasters will surely wage an all-out war in a bid to live and fight for another day.

UV’s 6-foot-11 hardcourt bulldozer Gregory Slaughter had a complete domination over his UC counterpart in 6-foot-9 June Mar Fajardo, making sure that everything is in order with regards to his ardent desire of producing another crown before bading farewell from the Lancers’ camp.

Slaughter, now in his last playing year with UV, once again topscored for the green and white jersey side with 22 points. His perimeter shots were even more impressive because he didn’t have to play hard one-on-one against Fajardo.

Ritchum Dennison pumped in 17 markers, but the big revelation for UV was crafty guard Eman Calo who had an easy 15 fastbreak points. Harold Cincoflores also stepped up to chip in with 10 points for the Visayanians.

Fajardo was the only bright spot for UC with 24 points. He could have scored more but some of his attempts were deflected by Slaughter’s stonewall defense. Compounding their woes was the rest of his teammates could hardly buy a bucket in sharp contrast to their razor-sharpo outside shooting in their Game 2 triumph.

Save for Fajardo, no other UC player came up with twin figures as the likes of Moncrief Rogado and Kevin Juliane was held off to only eight points apiece.

During the previous two games, the Webmasters had a blazing start but it was a completely different storyline the other as the Lancers was in full command of the match from the start on the way to post a 14-point romp.

The scores

UV (81) - Slaughter 22, Dennison 17, Calo 15, Cincoflores 10, Diputado 9, Olivares 5, Lao 2, Manigque 1

 UC (67) - Fajardo 24, Rogado 8, Juliane 8, Bernil 8, Abella 7, Quilantang 5, Tano 3, Cayanong 2, Mohamad 2

Halftime: 32-27 (FREEMAN NEWS)