After a lackluster showing last Saturday, the Cebu Eastern College (CEC) Dragons bounced back with a vengeance as they vented their ire on the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Baby Panthers, 79-60, in the juniors division of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) basketball tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
The victory, CEC’s fifth in six games, was made possible by an explosive second half, wherein they upped their defense that sparked their uptempo offense.
USPF actually led, 32-27, at halftime but crumbled in the face of CEC’s pressure defense and the hot shooting of Lyle Sumayang and Marvin Bauya.
An 11-0 run turned the tide for the defending champions with a floater by Luther Juevos tying the game up at 35-all and a jumper by Sumayang finally giving them the lead. Sumayang and Bauya each had 22 with the latter canning five three-pointers.
Rommel Diapera scored half of USPF’s total output with 30 markers.
In other games, the University of San Carlos (USC) Baby Warriors got their second win of the tournament with a 70-59 win over the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildkittens.
The University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) also won over Don Bosco, 85-74.
In a late game last Saturday, the University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers defeated Don Bosco, 79-54.