The unbeaten Southwestern University-Phinma (SWU) Cobras cruised to their ninth straight win as they thrashed the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters, 81-65, in the 16th Cesafi men’s basketball tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
The result was hardly in doubt for the team of multi-titled head coach Yayoy Alcoseba as they raced off to a 22-10 lead against a Webmasters squad beset with injuries and was missing spitfire guard Gileant Delator who sat out the game due to chickenpox.
Two-time league MVP Macmac Tallo led the Cobras with 17 points, six rebounds and three assists while backcourt mate John Lloyd Luz added 13 markers, 10 in the fourth which helped quell a comeback try by the Webmasters.
SWU led by as much as 19 but UC whittled it down to 11, 57-68, after wiry forward JR Puerto swished two free-throws. But Luz responded with a triple, and after a free-throw by Ian Ortega, added another one to raise their lead to 75-57, and seal the win with 3:05 to go.
Puerto scored 19 while Dacalos added 13 for UC, which dropped to 2-5.
Meanwhile in the juniors division, the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles boosted their league-leading win-loss record to 7-1 with an emphatic 76-48 bashing of the SWU Baby Cobras.
Since tasting defeat for the first time this season at the hands of the Baby Webmasters a month ago, the Magis Eagles have gone on a virtual tour of vengeance and have won by an average of nearly 40 points in their last five games.
Andrew Velasco and Travis Mantua each had 13 points while rookie Koko Tuadles pitched in 12 markers. Much-improved big man Alex Visser punched in a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds to push the Baby Cobras down to 3-5.
In the other high school tiff, the University of Southern Philippines-Foundation (USPF) Baby Panthers collected their second win of the season with a 75-65 victory over the winless Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildkittens.
Christopher Isabelo led USPF with 22 markers while Winston Ynot and Gabriel Cometa backed him up with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
USPF now sports a 2-5 card while CIT-U is bringing up the rear with an 0-8 card.