THE UNIVERSITY of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Baby Panthers dealt the Cebu Eastern College Dragons a 77-62 defeat in Game 1 of the best-of-three battle for third series in the juniors division of the 2011 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. basketball tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
In an effort reminiscent of their a “doormat” days in the Cesafi before their fortunes got turned last year, the Dragons were never into winning as they fell behind by as many as 28 points in the game before rallying late to make the score more respectable.
The Panthers led, 18-9, after the first period and established a 36-23 lead at halftime. The Panthers increased their advantage to 16, 55-39, at the end of the third canto and then proceeded to blow the Dragons away at the start of the fourth canto with an 18-2 rally spearheaded by Jason Cando, Winston Bolivar and Rommel Diapera.
Cando ended up with a career performance of 22 points while Bolivar added 15. Jomari Gairanod scored 12 while Diapera, USPF’s top gunner all season long, managed just nine in limited minutes of action.
Alfred Sedillo scored 13 to pace the Dragons while Lyle Sumayang tallied 12. According to CEC head coach Jerry Jaranilla, the players just did not have it in them yesterday. “Ayaw talaga nila maglaro ng maayos eh,” he said in an interview after the game. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio