CEBU CITY: The University of San Carlos Warriors kept their unbeaten record intact to end the first round of the 15th season of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. or Cesafi after a close 67-62 victory in a close and exciting battle with the Univrsity of Cebu Webmasters at the historic Cebu coliseum on Tuesday.
The Warriors jumped off tp a good start and led all the way until the end of the first half 30-22 behind the solid efforts of Cameroonian import Shooster Olago and power forward Charles Pepito whp dominated the smaller but quicker Webmasters frontline.
However, the full court press of the Webmasters at the start of the third quarter began to pay dividends as they cut the lead to just six points, 52-46 at the end of the third quarter behind the scoring binge of Melvin Butohan who had 10 points in the third.
The Webmasters cut the lead of the Warriors to just three points, 52-49 to kick off the payoff period with a nig three-pointer from Butohan but that was as close as they would get as Olago, Pepito and point guard Giovanni Laguyo took control of the game and extended the Warriors lead to,10 points in the last two minutes of the game.
Import Shooster Olago with 22 points and 14 rebounds was named ?Best Player of the Game? by the Viva Sports TV panel of Rico Navarro and Sandi Grumo. He was ably supported by Pepito who finished with 13 points and 11 boards for the pace-setting Warriors who moved to 6-0.
Melvin Butohan led the Webmasters with 18 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals while Justine Dacalos amd Garciano Puerto added 11 and 10 points respectively to the UC Webmasters who dropped their third game in five.
In the Juniors division the USC Baby Warriors met some brief resistance from the University of Southern Philippines Foundation Baby Panthers before racing to a 95-78 victory to stay unbeaten with a 4-0 record while USPF fell to 3-2.
Box Scores (Seniors)
USC (67) -- Olago 22, Pepito 13, Ortega 9, Tagapan 7, Magat 5, Rabat 5, Suarez 4, Laguyo 2, Maconocido 0, Adlawan 0, Lim 0.
UC (62) -- Butohan 18, Dacalos 11, Puerto 10, Codilla 8, Jabello 7, Suelto 5, Mayol 3, Culango 0, Dumat-ol 0, Tagudin 0, Luzares 0.
Quarter Scores: 16-10; 30-22; 52-46; 67-62.
Comments
Share your thoughts on the above article by Michael Kenji Izumi.