Ave Maria-USJ-R suffers two straight losses to bow out of contention in Partners Cup

The Ave Maria Sanctuary and Park-University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) suffered two straight losses in as many days to bow out of contention in the 5th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) Partners Cup.

The Gaisano Capital-University of Cebu (UC) dealt the Jaguars a 79-83 loss late Monday night. The Winner Beef Loaf-Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) Wildcats then finished off the Jaguars with a 78-70 win yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.

Ave Maria fell to 4-8 (win-loss) to drop out of the semifinals race.

CIT logged its second win in 11 games but is also eliminated from the tournament.

The Webmasters, who improved to 9-1, leading the cast of semifinalists together with Lion Tiger-University of the Visayas (UV), Rose Aquarius-University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) and the San Marino Corned Tuna-Southwestern University (SWU).

Rookie guard Steve Castro and Chester Curso did the most damage on the Jaguars’ defense as they anchored the Wildcats’ offense down the stretch to hack out the win. Curso led the way for Winner Beef Loaf with 19 while Castro chipped in 14.

The Webmasters rode on the heroics of Junemar Fajardo en route to logging the come-from-behind win over Ave Maria.

Fajardo, UC’s prized six-foot-10 center, wound up with 20 points, 16 of which came in the final period, while Roger Caytuna, a rookie power forward, added 14.

Banjo Capillar paced Ave Maria in that game with 14.