Defending champion Senate and Armed Forces of the Philippines begin their best-of-three title series on Sunday, with the former hoping to make history in the 7th UNTV Cup at the Pasig City Sports Center.
Coming off an impressive 75-60 drubbing of Philippine National Police in the rubber match of their semis series, the Senate Defenders are bidding to become the first back-to-back champion in the annual tournament for public servants.
And even without Sen. Joel Villanueva, who suffered a calf injury last Sunday, the Defenders are determined to start strong in their 5 p.m. showdown.
Fully rested after sweeping the NHA Builders in their own semis series two weeks ago, the Cavaliers have their own mission to accomplish and that is to win their third title in the event organized by UNTV president and CEO Dr. Daniel Razon.
AFP is currently tied with Judiciary for the most number of titles with two each in the event offering P4 million to the charity of the champion team.
The runner-up’s chosen charitable institution gets P2 million.
Without Villanueva, Garri Sevilla, Jeff Sanders, Marlon Legaspi and Sen. Sonny Angara need to put the extra effort on both ends to gain a big psychological advantage in the series.
Sevilla and Legaspi starred in their series-clinching win over the PNP Responders by scoring 24 and 18 points, respectively.
Out to provide the scoring load for the top-seeded Cavaliers are Boyet Bautista, Darwin Cordero, Willy Casula and former SEA Games campaigner Eugene Tan.
The Cavaliers won their titles in 2014 and 2016.