UC crushes USPF for breakthrough victory in Cesafi seniors hoop

The University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters finally broke through for their first win of the season as they crushed the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Panthers, 80-67, in the 13th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) men’s basketball tournament last night at the Cebu Coliseum.

Big man Kenneth Niones exploited the Panthers’ sorry excuse for a frontline and notched 20 points on top of five rebounds and two steals.

Wingman Kim Gomez also was a huge pain on the side of USPF as he scored 20 points, two rebounds, two assists and three steals as the Webmasters improved to 1-3 (win-loss).

USPF fell to a league-worst 0-4.

The Panthers were within striking distance for the first 25 minutes of the game until UC finished the third with an 8-1 run capped by a buzzer-beating layup by Noel Villanueva that the Webmasters a 54-44 lead.

The Webmasters pushed pedal to the metal and led by as many as 15, 64-49, after makes by Jan Auditor and Gomez and were never threatened the rest of the way.

In the juniors division, runners-up University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers solidified their grip of second place after they won their sixth game in eight games with a 75-72 win over the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildkittens.

Wily guard Jun Manzo led the way with 25 points, four rebounds, two assists and the same number of steals.

CIT-U, which fell to 3-4, got 19 from Jesse Aloro.