THE SOUTHWESTERN University (SWU) – Phinma Cobras broke out of their six-game slump in style, defeating the University of Southern Philippine Foundation (USPF) Panthers, 64-61, in the 2018 Cesafi men’s basketball tournament on Sunday at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Cobras won their first game of the season before dropping their next six. They put on a fantastic defensive stand in crunchtime yesterday to snatch their second win of the season and improve to 2-6 (win-loss).
Up by only one after USPF guard Graggy Sarahina split his charities, the Cobras contested the potential game-winning three-point try by wingman Lugie Cuyos and grabbed the rebound. Cobras big man Red Cachuela was then fouled and sank two free throws with 0.4 of a second left to raise their lead to 64-61.
On USPF’s final offensive, SWU-Phinma guard William Polican blocked Sarahina’s desperation triple to preserve the win.
Gerald Fernandez led SWU-Phinma with 15 points, Cachuela added 12 points and 10 boards while Polican pitched in 10 points including two straight triples that pushed the Cobras back in front, 62-57, after they lost a 13 point lead and trailed, 56-57. He also added four boards, two assists and three steals.
The loss by USPF, their third in eight games, capped off a horrendous day for their basketball program as its high school team also got beat by the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars, 69-77.
Matthew Paras carried the fight for USJ-R as he notched 21 points and eight rebounds while Kevin Guibao and Keith Co collected double-doubles, the former canning 14 and 10 boards and the latter collecting 11 points and 10 rebounds to go with four steals. Kendrick Abarquez pitched in 11 points and nine boards.
In other high school games, the University of Cebu (UC) Baby Webmasters ran roughshod over the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildkittens, 64-45.
Joshua Gellacone sparked UC’s breakaway as he piled up 16 points, eight rebounds, six steals and two assists.
Ice Blanco, the son of Cebuano basketball great Dondon Hontiveros, also posted solid numbers across the board with seven points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks to help UC win their fifth in six tries.
CIT-U fell to 2-3.
In the first game, the University of San Carlos (USC) Baby Warriors bested the Don Bosco Greywolves, 59-53, to bump their record to 3-1.
Don Bosco’s horror season continued on its course as they fell to 0-6.
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