Jaguars hope to end series for third vs Webmasters

Games today (Cebu Coliseum)

For Third

5 p.m. – CIT-U vs. CEC (Jrs.)

6:30 p.m. – USJ-R vs. UC (Srs.)

The University of San Jose-Recoletos Jaguars will try to take some respectability back home today as they gun for the third place trophy in Game 2 of the best-of-three series for it against the ousted champions, University of Cebu Webmasters in the 12th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) men’s basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum.

The Jaguars took Game 1 rather easily, 74-59, last Tuesday night to stand within a win away from capturing third place honors. Though third place was never the target, USJ-R played with ferocity and focus, a far cry from their performance in the semifinal round where they failed to bag a single win in the single round-robin format.

USJ-R’s cause was also helped by the return of two key players in Jayson Olbedado, the bulky hotshot who missed all of the Final Four because of a knee injury and Abulaiz Suliman, their all-star forward who missed their final game in the semis because of an ankle injury.

In stark contrast, UC continued to struggle especially after teams have finally managed to slow down the Webmasters’ do-it-all point guard, Brian Heruela. After dominating in the elimination round, Heruela has struggled of late in the face of opponents ganging up on him during the entire game.

In the juniors division, the Cebu Institute of Technology-University Wildkittens will also try to wrap up their own series for third place against the Cebu Eastern College Dragons.

CIT-U slipped past CEC in Game 1, 81-78, in overtime. Curiously, this match-up pits the 2009 champions (CIT-U) against the 2010 titlists (CEC).