Lancers annihilate Panthers Magis Eagles make it 6-0 in CESAFI cage wars

CEBU, Philippines - The University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers bounced back from a heart-rending setback to archrival Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras in style, pulling off a 106-53 demolition of the hapless University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Panthers in the 13th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) men's basketball tournament last night at the Cebu Coliseum.

So merciless the Haier-sponsored Lancers were that even if they already had an unassailable 90-51 lead, they were still hyper active on both ends of the court, holding off the Panthers to only two points while torching the net freely at the final 4:30 mark of the contest to come up with a 53-point blowout.

UV's Cameroonian twin towers Steve Cedrick Akomo and Mike Harry Nzesseu only had 17 points combined but that hardly mattered as the locals stepped up bigtime led by crafty playmaker John Abad with 24 points.

Alfred Codilla pumped in 17 points, Arvie Cabañero scored 16 and Raffy Oktobre chipped in 13 markers as the Lancers stayed at solo second place with a 3-1 win-loss record, while dealing the Panthers their third straight setback in as many starts.

The Lancers were ahead only by seven early on, 19-12, but ripped the game apart using a 30-9 rally in the second period for a 26-point bulge at halftime, 49-23.

Even if victory was already in their bag, Cabañero, Arong and Codilla still played with their guns ablaze, conspiring in a 16-0 blast that gave the Lancers an eye-popping 55-point advantage, 106-51, with only 53 seconds left to play.

Earlier, defending juniors division champion Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles demolished the University of San Jose- Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars, 70-53, to stay undefeated after six games.

Arvin Jason Ong finished with 11 points, while Giovanni Laguyo had 10 as the Magis Eagles typified a balanced scoring with their starters not really putting too much efforts to score as Arnie Padilla, Jair Igna, Janjan Jaboneta and Zacky Huang just chipped in below seven points among themselves.

Bryan Divinagracia made all his six shots from the three-point territory to pace the Baby Jaguars with 18 points. His efforts, however, went for naught as they crashed to their fifth loss in a row. (FREEMAN)