Jaguars roar in opener of Partner’s Cup hoop

The Lion Tiger Aerosols-University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) showed the University of Cebu (UC) that life without their big man in the middle was not going to be a very pleasant one as the Jaguars ripped the Webmasters apart, 80-62, at the start of the 6th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) Partner’s Cup yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.

Playing without 6-foot-11 behemoth, Junemar Fajardo, who has since moved on to the San Miguel Beermen, the reigning Cesafi champions struggled all afternoon and fell prey to a hungry USJ-R team that is  ready for redemption.

In the other game, defending champion Prime Asia University of the Visayas defeated San Marino Corned Tuna-University of Southern Philippines Foundation, 77-75.

Jayson Olbedado and Abulaiz Suliman took turns shredding the UC as they contributed 21 while  and 20 points, respectively, for USJ-R.

In contrast, nobody on the UC team reached double-digits with Jun Nistal leading them with nine markers.  Cesafi Mythical Team member Brian Heruela was held down to a measly two-point performance.

It was all USJ-R from the get-go as they led, 21-14, after the opening stanza.  With Suliman hitting his stride, the wards of head coach Edito Salacut extended their advantage to 13, 40-27, at halftime.

Then, the third period was Olbedado’s turn to shine as he hit back-to-back three pointers from the same spot on the right wing that broke the game wide open in their favor, 55-35.  Olbedado scored 14 of his points in that stretch.

UC got as close as 12, 56-68, in the fourth after a trey from Kim Gomez. But the Jaguars’ responded with a three-point play by Suliman and a jumper by Olbedado that took the fight out of the Webmasters.