Top seeds in seniors, juniors face lower-ranked foes as Cesafi semifinals start today

Games today:

Cebu Coliseum

5:15 p.m. – UV vs. USPF (jrs.)

6:45 p.m. – UC vs. USC (srs.)

The University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers and the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters take on lower-ranked foes today as the semifinal round of the 2011 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. basketball tournament starts at the Cebu Coliseum.

The Baby Lancers face off against Rommel Diapera and the rest of the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Baby Panthers in high school play while the reigning seniors champions UC take on the University of San Carlos Warriors in the college ranks.

Both UC and UV are armed with the twice-to-beat advantage by virtue of their top-place finishes in the elimination round.

The Webmasters are aiming to make it to the finals for the third straight time and will once again lean on their 6-foot-10 behemoth from Pinamungahan Junemar Fajardo.

Meanwhile, in the seniors division All Star game last Sunday, the Dark team eked out a 104-100 win over the Light squad as they leaned on the 16 fourth-quarter points of Southwestern University (SWU) forward Rene Pacquiao to pull off the come-from-behind win.

The Light team led for most of the game until Pacquiao, who was named MVP with 27 points, exploded in the final canto. He was joined down the stretch by the UV’s Edrian Lao, who also scored eight in that stretch.