On Tuesday, February 26th, both our Men’s Basketball and Coed Volleyball teams took the field for their respective tournaments, Oroverde and UISP.

Even though with different final results, both of our teams played well and showed great improvements.

MEN’S BASKETBALL
JCU Men’s Basketball team faced a very tough opponent last night, Lokomotiv Prenestino (LPB). It was a very intense game, but JCU was able to top LPB few minutes before the final buzzer, winning 81-80.

LPB immediately started off strong, pressing excessively our Gladiators and displaying a man-defense tactic. However, JCU contained well the opponents’ game and brought home the first quarter, 24-22.

The second quarter saw a head-to-head game with LPB taking the advantage in the first part thanks to a change in their strategy.

“We committed a few mistakes both in defense and offense in the second quarter, which helped LPB to score more. But despite that, we were able to keep the lead and won the set, 45-36,” coach Serraino pointed out.

In the third quarter, JCU re-organized its game strategy but ended up committing too many fouls over LPB who took the chance to score thanks to numerous free throws, overturning the result, 58-61.

JCU reacted then in the last quarter, and in the first few minutes, our Gladiators were able to tie. However, towards the end of the game, JCU lost a little bit of drive and allowed the opposing team to took the lead again until the very last minutes. From his inside position, Mobley smartly threw the ball to the outside where Lacerda caught it and shot, scoring a 3-point bucket and leading JCU to victory by only one point.

The game ended, 81-80 for our Gladiators.

Congratulations, Gladiators! You proved again what a great team you are! We are proud of you!

MVP – Andre Lacerda

COED VOLLEYBALL
JCU Coed Volleyball team was, instead, in action in an away game against ASD Aurelio (ASM) for the second round.

Unfortunately, JCU wasn’t able to get their payback after last-week defeat against ASM, but our Gladiators still played a very good game and showed improvements both on a technical and teamwork level.

ASM won 3-1 over JCU [25-10; 18-25; 25-20; 25-11], but our Gladiators showed a better volleyball compared to all the previous games.

“We played against a very competitive team who had two extremely powerful attackers. We knew it wasn’t easy to win, but what I liked the most is that I saw a different team, tonight, who tries its best in order to win together,” Coach Papari commented.

Except for the first and fourth sets where JCU mainly suffered ASM victory, our Gladiators reacted well in the second and third sets.

JCU determination particularly came out in the second set with a signifcant 18-25 win over ASM. The third set was also fought well, and JCU missed the victory by a thread.

“Despite the final result, tonight, we showed that we have potential. Of course, we don’t like to lose, but at least, I didn’t see all the problems we had in the previous games. The team is reacting, and they are all trying to improve. The simple fact that we won one set, tonight, means a lot,” Papari concluded.

Good job, Gladiators! It is only with commitment, teamwork, and determination that the hardest battles are won, so keep it up!

MVP – Yassin Abo Kheshim