Best four Cesafi teams start duel for 2011 crowns

Games today (Cebu Coliseum)

(For Third)

1 p.m. – CEC vs. USPF (jrs.)

2:30 p.m. – UV vs. USC (srs.)

(Finals)

4 p.m. – UV vs. SHS-AdC (jrs.)

5:30 p.m. – UC vs. SWU (srs.)

Will Junemar Fajardo leave the University of Cebu Webmasters with the coveted title as a parting gift? Or will the Southwestern University Cobras crash the party and make it their own?

Will the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles finish a title journey that started last year? Or will the University of the Visayas Baby Lancers atone for their senior counterparts’ embarrassing ouster with their own return to prominence?

The answer to these intriguing will start to unravel today as Game 1 of the best-of-five finals series in both the juniors and seniors divisions of the 2011 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) kick off at the Cebu Coliseum.

The reigning champions UC Webmasters and their senior center, Fajardo, will try to grab one last hurrah as they face the raging SWU Cobras, a team that has lost just once in the last two months, in the seniors class. In the juniors division, the Magis Eagles hope to finally capture the trophy that eluded them last year but will be hard-pressed to do so against the top-seeded Baby Lancers.

UC, with Fajardo leaving for greener pastures at the end of this season, aims to savor this last dance as they try to add one more crown to their mantle. The odds though are just about even, against the Cobras, as each team owns a win over the other in their two duels this season.

The Cobras though, appear to have the momentum, as they appear to have finally found the groove under the tutelage of champion coach, Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba. SWU is aiming for their first title since winning the last championship in the defunct Cebu Amateur Athletic Association (CAAA). Ironically, they won that title at the expense of Alcoseba’s Cebu Doctor’s University Stallions.

Meanwhile, the Magis Eagles pray that their return to the finals this year will yield a different result after being swept in the title series by the Cebu Eastern College Dragons last year.

And after disposing of those very same Dragons in the semifinals, the Eagles train their eyes on the Lancers who beat them once this year.

The Eagles though, will still have to make do without star point guard Henry Asilum, who is still finishing up his stint with the Energen Pilipinas Under-16 squad in the FIBA Asia U-16 Championship in Vietnam.