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The University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers started their title defense with aplomb as they emphatically took out the latest contenders to their crown, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars, with a convincing 86-74 win in Game 1 of their best-of-five championship series in the seniors division of the Cesafi basketball tournament last night at the packed Cebu Coliseum.
Billed to be a virtual fight to the finish between the two top teams in the league this season, Game 1 instead turned out to be a blowout as the Green Lancers asserted the spectacular dominance that have made them champions for the past seven years.
Leading by just four, 41-37, at the turn the Lancers greeted the Jaguars with a sizzling 11-3 run fueled by man-mountain Greg Slaughter and birthday-boy Von Lanete, to erect a 52-40 advantage early in the second half.
Another 11-2 rally soon followed that all but blew the wind out of the sails of USJ-R as the Jaguars faced a huge 19-point deficit, 44-63, midway through the third period.
Consecutive baskets by shock-troopers Edrian Lao and Harold Cincoflores, and guard Ritchum Dennison in the final minute of the third stanza along with their unforgiving defense gave the Lancers an insurmountable 23-point bulge, 71-48, heading into the final period.
USJ-R's streak-shooting guard Lyndon Gudez made it his personal mission to try to bring back his team by scoring 11 of his 22 points in the final stretch but fell short as his teammates simply could not find their rhythm. Typifying their game-long struggles was Mythical Five team-shooting Luther Justiniani, who finished with just four points after missing all eight of his field goal attempts.
Slaughter finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds while court generals Chris Diputado and Lanete, each had 14 points.
BABY WEBMASTERS TAKE GAME 1
Meanwhile, the juniors division defending champions UV Baby Lancers were not as lucky as they were toppled by the University of Cebu (UC) Baby Webmasters, 87-91, in Game 1 of their best-of-five championship series.
UV was down early but finally caught up with UC in the final stanza. A basket by Jan Auditor gave UV an 81-79 lead but the Baby Webmasters showed their resiliency and responded with baskets from Christian Taboada and Zandro Palileo to retake the lead, 85-81.
Roger Pogoy and Gerald Ampoon sealed the win for the Baby Webmasters in the final seconds as the former had a crucial tip-in while the latter made an uncontested layup.
Ampoon led UC with 20 points, 18 coming in a torrid first-half shooting spree while Pogoy had 17 points.
UV was paced by former Letran Squire Arvie Cabanero, who scored 28 points.
