CEBU CITY, Philippines – The playoffs begin for the junior division in the men's basketball tournament of the 15th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) with the University of Cebu (UC) Junior Webmasters going up against the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Baby Panthers and the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars facing University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers.
The third-place UC Junior Webmasters will play against the sixth-ranked USPF Baby Panthers this Tuesday September 8 while the fourth-placed USJR Baby Jaguars will face seed no. 5 UV Baby Lancers on Thursday September 10.
Both UC and USJR have twice-to-beat advantage.
Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles, who swept their elimination games to top the league with an 8-0 record, will wait for the top two teams of the quarterfinal round as they have earned an automatic entry into the semifinals along with the University of San Carlos (USC) Baby Warriors, who finished at 2nd with a 6-2 record after bowing to the Magis Eagles and the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildkittens.
The playoffs will determine who will earn the two remaining semifinals tickets.
The UC Junior Webmasters and the USJR Baby Jaguars have earned the twice to beat advantage for placing 3rd and 4th, respectively. Both teams tallied a 5-3 record but the Junior Webmasters took the 3rd place via the “win over the other ruling” after they won over the Baby Jaguars 54-49 in their August 1 meeting.
Likewise, the UV Baby Lancers and the USPF Baby Panthers also ended their eliminations campaign with a similar win-loss record of 4-4 but by virtue of the win over the other ruling, the Baby Lancers take 5th place after routing the Baby Panthers 87-65 on August 29.
This is the highest standing the Junior Webmasters have ever achieved, while this is the lowest for the Baby Lancers, who have always been known to be a formidable team.
Despite finishing at third place, the Junior Webmasters is facing a tall order as the Baby Panthers had demolished them 93-68 in their August 9 meeting, not to mention that the USPF Junior squad also finished third last season.
The Junior Webmasters will have to find a way to contain Ain Obenza who scored a massive 30 points during their meeting. Not only can Obenza dominate the paint, he also has displayed a touch for 3-point shooting.
Aside from Obenza, they will also have to put a press on George Cometa, Dennis Archival, who have been doing well of late, Christopher Macalam and Jaffer Hernando.
The Junior Webmasters are not without an arsenal of their own as a combination of Froilan Mangubat, Luigi Kondrad Gabisan and Jason Florence Abejo could very well send them through this round.
Both teams, however, have to work on their consistency.
The Baby Jaguars, on the other hand, have the psychological advantage of having defeated the Baby Lancers during their elimination meeting, 65-43.
However, they have to look out for Raul Jancork Cabahug who set a record with his double-double of 41 points and 22 rebounds in the Baby Lancers meeting with the CEC Dragons. Such is Cabahug's importance to the team that he is only afforded only a few minutes of rest in their games.
The Baby Jaguars could always rely on the combination of Joshua Renz Ortiz, John Kirck Gonzaga and Jude Benedict Teleron who can score not only from the inside but outside as well while Geo Ibero could serve as the one to foil Cabahug.
The winners will advance to the semifinal round which will be played in a single round robin format with the top 2 teams advancing to the Best of 3 Finals Series while the losers will play for third in a knockout game. – Rappler.com