SWU Cobras dump USC Warriors

CEBU, Philippines - Six-foot-six Cameroonian Benoit Mbala scattered 31 points to lead the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras to an emphatic 98-63 victory over the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors last night at the Cebu Coliseum.

In the earlier game of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc (CESAFI) basketball tournament, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu swept its elimination round assignments by blasting University of the Visayas, 97-82, in the secondary division.

The win of SWU assured the team of the third spot going into the quarterfinals.

The Warriors who managed to come close only in the first period, paid dearly for playing too aggressive going in for drives and lay-ups against the tall SWU line up that included the other 6-6

Cameroonian, Justin Aboude.

Instead of using their outside shooters in the likes of June Michael Cantonao, Stephen Que and Nico Magat, USC decided to work at the paint hoping that Mbala and Aboude would take the bait and commit many fouls.

Mabala had a monster performance in the third period scoring nine points including a two-handed slam and then  made another dunk in the fourth period but he was no longer scoring much paving the way for Monbert Arong and the other teammates to contribute.

Arong who also caught fire hitting a couple of three-pointers, finished with 21 points while Aboude had 14 points as the Cobras finished the elimination round with a 3-3 win-loss record.

Since a triple-tie with USC and defending champion University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters in inevitable, the Cobras will get a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals starting on Sunday, September 2 because of their huge 35-point win.

Depending on the quotient after the final games of the elimination round tomorrow, the Cobras opponent is not yet determined in the meantime.

Cantonao had 15 points for the Warriors while Nilton John Otida and Magat added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Earlier, defending champion Baby Lancers staged a rally in the third period chopping the deficit from 18 points, 53-71 to just 12 points at the end of the period, but it proved to be their last hurrah against the Magis Eagles.

Point guard Arc Gabriel Araw-araw’s back-to-back triples ignited another big run for SHS-AdC and the presence of power forward Henric Dawn Ochea added a blow to the Baby Lancers’ hopes to rally as they dropped to second place with a 7-1 win-loss record. 

Araw-araw led the 8-0 Magis Eagles with 17 points and Ochea had 16 while Giovanni Laguyo, Arnie Padilla and Rendell Thomas Senining all finished with double figures. 

The 41-point explosion by juniors reigning MVP Paul Andres Desiderio went for naught.

The scores:

First Game:

SHS-AdC (Sec.) 97 — Araw-araw 17, Ochea 16, Laguyo 15, Padilla 14,

Senining 12, Jaboneta 7, Igna 7, Cerdado 7, Catan 4

UV (Sec.) 82 — Desiderio 41, Dela Cerna 8, Santillan 7, Samal 7, Canete 5, Limitares 4, Escalona 4, Manzo 3, Dinolan 2, Fernandez 1.

Second Game:

SWU (Coll.) 98 — Mbala 31, Arong 21, Aboude 14, Dedace 9, Pajantoy 6,

Casquejo 6, Goloran 5, Bregondo 4, Ortuyo 2

USC (Coll.) 63 — Cantonao 15, Otida 12, Romaguera 11, Magat 10,

Pepito 7, Valencia 4, Bautista 3, Que 1. - THE FREEMAN