The CESAFI basketball tournament has reached a little beyond its halfway point, and as expected, there have been a few surprises and the usual “expected.” For starters, the surprise has been SWU-PHINMA leading all teams undefeated at the top of the team standings with a 9-0 record. This is a welcome recovery from last year when they had to go through the season with only nine players. The Cobras are a relatively new team with the infusion of new players. Leading the pack are veterans Macmac Tallo, Jovanie “John Lloyd” Luz, Mark Racho, Anton Pardo and Bernie Bregondo. They have provided the stability and maturity for the team that lost key players like JR Parker, Landry Sanjo, Juju Bautista and Daryl Goloran from their championship team of two years ago. The good news is that they tapped new players with experience from other leagues and a balik-CESAFI import. Ian Ortega, Rolly Bravo, Sir Shaq Imperial, William Polican and Darwin Barte have provided quality minutes as starters or reserves coming off the bench. Former USJ-R import Quentin Nzuzi has also returned to action with more weight and having improved from two years ago. Their nine-game winning streak didn’t come easy after going through some scary moments in some crucial games, some of which went into overtime. Just like that, they have now become the odds-on favorite to win the championship this year.
The other surprise has been the roller coaster ride of the UV Lancers. While they are safe at second place with a 6-3 record, this has been marred by two straight losses in their last two games; against USJ-R and USC. The Lancers were hands-down the heavy favorites to win the championship but after losing two straight to USJ-R, then USC last week, people are now shaking their heads in disbelief, disappointment and now doubts. If UV doesn’t wake up and adjust now, they could be in for a really rough ride against the hungrier teams out there. Note that they still have to play SWU-PHINMA once more in the classification phase. But it’s not the end of the world for UV, is it? From a manpower angle, UV has no real weakness. They are deep with talent with anyone capable of starting for any other CESAFI team. Veterans Alfred Codilla, Rey Suerte, Toto Segumpan, Jerome Napao, Jayson Balabag and returnee Monic Silva are back along with new import Bassieru Sackor. New faces given playing time and delivering include Tristan Albina, who’ll be out for the season due to an injury but was impressive while on the court, and Sheldon Gahi. There’s a lot of time to recover, review and adjust. If they don’t do this, they’ll be in for a long ride.
USJ-R and USC have been playing their roles as solid challengers to the championship. If UV slips somewhere along the way in the playoffs, the Jaguars and Warriors are ready to pounce at any time. Both teams have given SWU-PHINMA and UV scary moments and seem to have developed game plans that have clicked against the big teams. The other highlight worth citing is the battle of coaches among the top four teams. Unknown and unseen to many, Yayoy Alcoseba (with Mike Reyes) at SWU-PHINMA, Gary Cortes (UV), Jun Noel (USJ-R) and Rommel Rasmo (USC) are also in a coaching battle among themselves proving that it takes more than just talent on the floor to win games. Coach Yayoy has proven that he can blend in new faces along with his core unit. Coach Gary as a sophomore is fast catching up to become the leader for his talented side, while Coach Jun and Rommel have done a great job of maximizing the talent and skills of their players who are not as talented and as deep as the top two teams
UC, USPF and CIT-U have separated themselves from the others, albeit at the bottom, with USPF earning special mention after defeating UC in a nail-biter last week. Winning two games in a season is already an over achievement and they’re in a position to actually grab fifth place in the standings from UC if they beat CIT-U. The Panthers have proven that they have the biggest hearts out there. It’s just too bad they don’t have the kind of players that the top teams possess.
Meanwhile, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu has expectedly topped the high school team standings, but suffered a bump of a loss to UC along the way. The battle now is for the second outright semifinals berth among Don Bosco, UV, CEC and UC. The Magis Eagles are shooting for a four-peat after winning titles in 2012, 2014, and 2015. But the common talk is that the high school division is still unpredictable and anything can happen.
And there’s more CESAFI to look forward to. College volleyball has already begun while high school volleyball kicked off yesterday at the USC Main Gym. CESAFI football also started yesterday at the Cebu City Sports Center. Games of volleyball and football will be played every Saturday and Sunday at these venues.
Here’s wishing everyone the best as we pray for a smooth, stress-free CESAFI!