CEBU, Philippines - The fourth seed University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors reaffirmed their mastery over the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras, this time via an 80-72 decision to cruise into the semifinals of the 9th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) basketball season the other night at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Warriors squandered an 18-point lead but showed grace under heavy pressure to escape with an eight point victory.
Trailing by a mile, 48-66, early in the final quarter, the Cobras were relentless in their counter-attack to pull within just two points, 72-74, on a triple by Chris Litorja that punctuated a blistering 16-0 rally at the final 1:25 mark of the contest.
However, that proved to be SWU's last hurrah as the Warriors proved to be a tough nut to crack at crunchtime.
Giovanni Padillo, whose buzzer-beating triple lifted USC to a 74-73 nail-biter over SWU in their previous meeting, paced the Warriors anew with 18 points, while Joven Cid Cortes finished with 15 points. Ryan Carlo Padayao and Sam Jordan Hermosa chipped in 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Eliud Poligrates and Eleazar Armecin topscored for the Cobras with 16 points each. Litorja scored 15 followed by Arrd Diango with 11.
The semis cast in the high school division has already been settled after the CIT Wildkittens eliminated the USC Baby Warriors, 88-67, and the USJ-R Baby Jaguars ousted the comebacking Sacred Heart School-Jesuit (SHS-J) Eagles, 76-67.
Meanwhile, expect the Cebu Coliseum to be transformed into a suspense threater today as four teams figure in a double knockout battle, with the winners filling up the list of semifinalists in the collegiate division.
In the first game at 5 pm, the top seed University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters will go up against the Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC) Greywolves, while the second-ranked University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars will square off against the Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) Wildcats in the main game at 6:30 pm.
The Greywolves staved off early elimination after pulling off a 77-74 shocker over the twice-to-beat incentive Webmasters, in the same way with the Wildcats following their 91-85 upset of the Jaguars.
The scores
USC (80) - Padillo 18,Cortes 15, Padayao 13, Hermosa 12, Gallarde 6, Cantonao 6, Bakker 6, Bautista 4, Joven 3
SWU (72) - Poligrates 16, Armecin 16, Litorja 15, Diango 11, Gallarde 9, Pacquiao 6, Jalandoni 2, Divinagracia 2
Halftime: 32-25 (FREEMAN NEWS)