The University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars completed the Final Four cast as they walloped the University of Southern Philippines Foundation Panthers, 71-58, in the quarterfinals of the 12th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. men’s basketball tournament last night at the Cebu Coliseum.
Unlike in their first meeting, wherein the Jaguars had to bleed to eke out a 75-74 victory, this one was a blowout from the get-go as USJ-R’s frontline proved to be too much to handle for the Panthers.
The single round-robin semifinals start next week. The semifinalists are USJ-R, the Southwestern University Cobras, the defending champions University of Cebu Webmasters and the top-seeded University of the Visayas Green Lancers.
The Jaguars utilized their defense and the explosive offense of Abulaiz Sulaiman and Renato Abing to surge ahead in the first half, 34-20. The aforementioned duo combined for 23 points.
Sulaiman finished with 29 points, 16 rebounds, an assist, three steals and two blocks while Abing added 14 markers.
Another frontliner who did well for USJ-R, was Miguel Tabaloc, who had a double-double of 10 points, 13 rebounds, a block and a steal.
Joseph Sedurifa was the lone double-digit scorer for USPF with 19 points. The Panthers did not claim a single win this season.
In the juniors division, the reigning champion University of the Visayas leaned on the 23-point effort of league MVP Paul Desiderio to advance to the semis with an 85-80 win over the USPF Baby Panthers.