SWU-PHINMA’S Dyll Roncal blocks the shot of UC’s John Jabello. CDN Digital photo | Jonas Panerio
Cebu City, Philippines—The Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma Cobras are making their way to the finals of the Cesafi Partner’s Cup after they ousted the Joemangs Surplus-University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters, 84-72, in the semifinals on Tuesday, July 30, 2019, at the Cebu Coliseum.
The win by the Cobras set the stage for a best-of-three finals showdown between them and the reigning champions ARQ-University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers.
Game 1 of the titular encounter will be on Friday, August 2, 2019, at 7 p.m. at the same venue.
The Cobras made their move late in the third when Red Cachuela and Gerald Fernandez scored baskets to put SWU-Phinma head by 10, 66-56.
Shaquille Imperial and Cachuela then opened the fourth canto with two free-throws and a putback, respectively, to push the Cobras ahead by 14.
The Webmasters tried to rally and cut the deficit down to 10 but the Cobras had an answer, countering with a 9-2 burst capped off by back-to-back layups in transition by Imperial that raised their lead to 16, 81-65, with 3:59 remaining.
UC could no longer threaten after that SWU-Phinma rally, putting an end to its preseason title hopes.
Lamine Thiam, the Cobras’ prolific student-athlete from Senegal, carried the load on both ends of the floor for SWU-Phinma, scoring 24 points on top of playing fantastic defense on UC’s foreign player, Tosh Sesay.
Imperial added 15 markers while Cachuela put up 14 points. Dyll Roncal continued his breakout season, this time tallying 13 points.
UC got 18 points each from Sesay and Tristan Albina. Shane Menina added 17 markers. /bmjo