Cobras shock Lancers

CEBU, Philippines – Southwestern University (SWU) scored what is by far the biggest upset in the 10th Cebu Schools Ath-letic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) basketball season when the Cobras stunned nine-time champion University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers via a 52-51 cliffhanger at the start of the semifinal round the other night at the Cebu Coliseum.

It was Clefford Maguate's split charities in the final 1.8 seconds of the contest that pole-vaulted the Co-bras to cloud nine being the first team to vanquish the formidable Lancers this year.

When the count stood at 51-all, Maguate was sent to the foul line after being fouled by UV's Jerome Silva. He flubbed his first attempt, but made the second one to avoid what would have been an opportunity for the Lancers to bring the game into overtime.

Some of the Cobras who were inside the court laid down on the floor when Lancers guard Michael Abad's desperate heave below the midcourt went wayward as the gameclock expired.

The Lancers paid dearly for the two crucial errors by Silva, who earlier missed a short yet ill-advised turn-around jumper in the final 10 seconds of the game. After SWU got the defensive rebound, Arrd Evan Diango made a quick entry pass to Maguate at the post and the latter got fouled by Silva.

Diango had his own heroics when he buried a go-ahead, buzzer-beating triple in the final 1:11 of the match after the Lancers tasted their last lead, 49-48.

The Cobras of coach Bong Begontes suffered a severe beating from the Lancers in the elimination round, losing by 18 points, 57-75.

It was a great reversal of fortune this time.

"Nababa-an gyud nako. Sa praktis ingon ko nga bisa'g modaog lang tag one-point okay na. Kung mapilde man gani ta, dili nako gusto nga ilubong ta og usab," recounted Begontes on what he had told his play-ers during their practice prior to the UV game.

The Lancers, who finished the elimination with a clean 7-0 slate, now faces the prospect of sweeping their games against the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters and the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors because one more defeat means disqualification in the finals for the first time in the nine-year-old CESAFI his-tory.

The Cobras got a big lift from Rene Pacquiao with 23 points. Andrew Avillanoza had 10 points for the Lancers, who were hardly hit by the ice-cold performances of Ralf Olivares and Harold Cincoflores. (FREEMAN)