For years now, the University of Cebu’s (UC) 6-foot-10 center, Junemar Fajardo, has been the bane of the University of the Visayas’ (UV) existence.
Sunday night was no different as the reigning MVP reprised the role of chief tormentor as the Webmasters defeated the Green Lancers, 78-67, in an explosive match up between the two league leaders in the seniors division of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum.
Fajardo, the main catalyst of UC’s emergence as champions of the Cesafi last year, scored a game-high 30 points, 13 of which came in the fourth period.
The Webmasters went up by as many as 16, 40-24, in the second period but got threatened in the third canto when the Lancers made use of their vaunted pressure defense which created numerous opportunities for easy baskets.
A 10-0 run anchored on big man Edrian Lao and Jerome Silva closed the gap to three, 41-44, and another brief 7-0 spurt at the end of that stretch sliced the deficit down to just four, 57-41, heading to the final frame.
The momentum of the Lancers stopped dead in its tracks in the fourth period as two of their best players fouled out. Lao got two quick ones in succession while Harold Cincoflores incurred his fifth foul with 7:12 remaining.
Three others reached double-figures for UC with Robinson Mohammad scoring 11 and Brian Heruela and Luigi Bercede adding 10 each. UV was led by the 13 of Silva and the 12 of Lao.
UV’s junior counterparts atoned for the loss of their elders by grabbing the solo lead in the standings after they eked past the University of San Jose-Recoletos Baby Jaguars, 85-77, in overtime. The win pushed UV’s unbeaten record to 5-0.
The UC Baby Webmasters also got their first win, beating Cebu Institute of Technology-University, 79-64.