USPF’s Neon Chavez was one of the players who took over for the Panthers in their win over UC on Tuesday night, September 10, 2019. CDN Digital photo | Gerard Vincent Francisco
Cebu City, Philippines—Sameem Swint had a monster performance all-game long, Neon Chavez came up with clutch shots, and the rest of the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Panthers played stellar at both ends of the floor.
The result: A 78-72 win over the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters in Tuesday’s (September 10, 2019) Cesafi men’s basketball game at the Cebu Coliseum.
Read: USPF takes down UC for first win in Cesafi collegiate hoops
With USPF’s superb showing, is this a sign of good things to come for the Panthers?
“I hope,” said head coach Brian James Jereza a day after the big win that even their record to 1-1 (win-loss).
“We played better defense last night and we made crucial basket down the stretch. The boys played hard both on offense and defense. So luckily the we got the W,” Jereza added.
The Panthers bounced back from an 80-75 loss to the University of San Carlos (USC), a game wherein, according to Jereza, the USPF players were adjusting to some technical issues.
“First game were not used to the new ball. It was so slippery and it was over inflated,” he said.
But he’s not putting all the blame on that. He believes the team did step up this time around.
“We played better defense and the communication was better,” said the promising young coach.
Swint also believes the Panthers are starting to play better.
Read: Big games from USPF, UC-Main rookies
“I think were a little bit nervous [in the first game], getting used to playing with each other, lack of communication. But this game, we talked about it as a team, our communication was better, our defense was great,” said Swint, the promising foreign student athlete from New Jersey, USA.
Swint finished with a game-high 30 points and kept the Panthers rolling all-game long.
He nailed a dagger of a three pointer when UC threatened to come close at 72-74 on a basket by Shane Menina down the stretch.
Chavez, who also hit crucial shots late in the game, sealed the win for the Panthers with a gift shot top peg the final score. /bmjo