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MANILA, Philippines — This one’s for coach “Yayoy.”
Reeling from the sudden resignation of their fabled head coach Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba, the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras pulled off what could be the biggest upset of the tournament, hacking out a nail-biting 64-63 victory over the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers in the Filoil Flying V Premier Cup at The Arena, today, May 4.
Fleet-footed guard Monbert Arong sparked the Cobras’ monumental upending of UST as he finished with 16 points while Cameroonian Landry Sanjo and sweet-shooting Melvin Holper added 11 and 10, respectively for the Cesafi titlists.
“We dedicate this win to coach Yayoy,” said Jacques Bautista, who replaced Arong after the latter suffered a late-game injury. “We did our best to come up with the win and we just played with our hearts out.”
Fitting sendoff
It was all heart, indeed for the Cobras, who ended the tournament with a 3-5 win-loss record while UST dropped to 1-2.
Both squads struggled early on as they couldn’t hit the mark, but UST led at the end of the first half, 27-23, thanks to the efforts Kevin Ferrer and Karim Abdul.
“Credit the win to our defense, we were able to defend one-on-one and this will help us a lot in our Cesafi campaign,” shared a visibly-elated Cobras coach Mike Reyes, who took over from Alcoseba after the latter rendered his resignation to focus on his political career.
The Cebu-based Cobras then dropped a 6-0 run capped by a Holper trey to start the third canto before both teams battled tooth and nail for the remainder of the game.
In the payoff period, Holper buried a cold-blooded three-pointer to shove SWU ahead, 62-59 and split his free throws off an unsportsmanlike foul from Aljon Mariano.
Ferrer sank a triple of his own to push the Tigers within one, 62-63, but Jeric Teng, who had a miserable outing going up against SWU’s pesky defense, bungled one of his two free throws as Ferrer missed a potential game-winning three at the buzzer.
Ferrer and Abdul paced UST with their 12 points apiece while the usually on-target Teng was held to 10 points on a paltry zero-of-eight shooting from the rainbow territory.
Forrester, Chiefs drub Falcons
In the night cap, Filipino-Canadian James Forrester led three other players of the Arellano University Chiefs in double-figures to pummel the incoming UAAP Season 76 host Adamson University Falcons, 80-71.
The six-foot-three Forrester tallied 16 points, grabbed six boards and dished out two assists while big men Allen Enriquez and Ralph Salcedo had 13. Heady playmaker Nard Pinto also chipped in 10 markers for Legarda-based cagers who registered their fourth straight win.
“We started strong and we were so aggressive on both offense and defense so when they (Adamson) started to come back, we had a cushion,” Chiefs’ coach Koy Banal said.
“Our battlecry is to better our best and we need to believe that we can be a contender in the NCAA,” added Banal, who won titles in the UAAP (FEU) and NCAA (San Beda), added.
The Falcons rallied from the depths of a 24-point hole in the first half, as swingman Jericho Cruz and towering Ingrid Sewa ignited a searing 9-0 blitz punctuated by a Sewa dunk bridging the third and the fourth quarters to trim the gap to 66-58.
A costly travelling violation on Falcons’ Don Trollano did them in the down-the-wire ending with only 1:17 remaining.
Cruz paced the Falcons with a double-double performance, firing 24 points, hauling down 5 caroms and issuing three steals while Sewa and Rodney Brondial combined for 31 markers.
With the win, the Chiefs remained unbeaten in four outings while the Falcons slid to 1-1. – Rappler.com
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