Sir Shaquille Imperial of the SWU Cobras goes for a layup against Viem Kelly Tepait of the CIT-U Wildcats in yesterday’s opening day of Cesafi 2018 at Cebu Coliseum./CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON
Games today (Cebu Coliseum)
1 p.m. – USPF vs CEC (High School)
2:30 p.m. – USJ-R vs USC (High School)
4 p.m. – UC vs USC (College)
5:30 p.m. – USJ-R vs UV (College)
The Southwestern University-Phinma Cobras want to make it back to the league’s upper echelon and took a step in that direction when they routed the Cebu Institute of Technology-University Wildcats, 87-53, at the start of the 2018 Cesafi men’s basketball tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Cobras did not take long to assert their superiority over the Wildcats as they led, 16-5, after the first, before raising their lead to 25, 46-21, at halftime. The second half reflected the first 20 minutes of action as SWU-Phinma had their way at every single turn, building a 71-38 lead heading to the last 10 minutes of action.
SWU-Phinma head coach, Mike Reyes, gave all the credit to their defense, which he revealed, they practiced on for an entire week.
“Pinag-praktisan talaga namin ang opensa ng CIT-U. Sa Partners’ Cup, we noticed that they had trouble bringing the ball up so we wanted to take advantage of that,” said the Cobras’ veteran mentor.
“And we wanted to limit (Kenny) Rocacurva. And we succeeded in doing that,” he added.
Shaquille Imperial led the Cobras with 21 points while big man, Red Cachuela, had a fantastic debut with 19 markers. Reeve Ugsang chipped in 11.
Rocacurva collected 19 points but was largely ineffective all game long.
In the high school division, the CIT-U Wildkittens made up for their older counterparts’ failure by debuting in victorious fashion, defeating the SWU-Phinma Baby Cobras, 74-51.
Vincent Bugtai led the way for the Wildkittens, a team that last tasted the title in 2009 when current PBA player Macmac Tallo was still at the helm, with 13 points while Sol Tirol scored 12 points.