CEBU, Philippines - The University of the Visayas Green Lancers will further test their might when they go up against top caliber cagers from the PBA and Asian Basketball League (ABL) in a friendly encounter at 4 p.m. this Saturday at the UV-Main gym.
Tickets are priced at only P30.
The preliminary match scheduled at 2:30 pm features the Baby Lancers against the UV developmental team.
Bannered by 6-foo-t-7 Nigerian recruit Cedrick Akomo and explosive center Hernal “Wowie” Escocio, the Lancers of coach Felix “Donbel” Belano, Jr. will take on a mixture of PBA and ABL players that include Rob Wainwright, Mark Andaya, Al Vergara, Jam Alfad, Ramsey Williams, Ken Bono, JR Gerilla, and Jason Wade.
Also suiting up for the combined PBA-ABL force are 6-foot-9 import James Garnette from France and commercial standouts Stephen Padilla and Jayford Rodriguez, who are both members of the UV champion team during their collegiate days.
The UV Lancers, who will also count on the likes of Eman Calo, John Abad,
Jerome Silva and Raffy Oktubre, recently completed a six-game elimination round sweep that earned them an outright semifinal berth in the 12th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) men’s basketball tournament.
After showing their stuff against the PBA-ABL squad, Akomo and Escocio head for another tour of duty as they form part of the CESAFI selection that will take on the Petron Blaze Boosters highlighting the league’s annual All-Star spectacle on Sunday at the Cebu Coliseum.
Petron, formerly the San Miguel Beermen in the PBA, will be bannered by Dondon Hontiveros and Junemar Fajardo, the 6-foot-9 behemoth from Pinamungajan who made history as the first Cebuano player to emerge as the No.1 overall pick in the PBA draft two weeks ago.
Interestingly, Hontiveros and Fajardo are both products of the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters. - THE FREEMAN