Nothing new for SWU to do improbable

MANILA, Philippines - For the Southwestern University basketball varsity, doing the improbable is a hard habit to break. Last year, Cobras coach Raul (Yayoy) Alcoseba pulled off a shocker as SWU came back from a 2-1 deficit in the best-of-5 CESAFI (Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc.) finals to stun University of the Visayas, 73-72, in Game 5 for its first-ever crown.

Last month, SWU brought down the Green Lancers once more, 68-60, to win the Southern Islands championship and a ticket to the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) semifinals. The win wasn’t supposed to happen as UV just dethroned SWU in this year’s CESAFI finals. SWU won 14 straight, including three over UV, then lost three in a row to the Lancers to surrender the CESAFI crown.

To start off hostilities in the PCCL semifinals last Monday, SWU surprised La Salle, 68-58, in overtime and booked a slot in the finals with an 86-71 thrashing of FEU last Thursday. SWU chair Maris Aznar Holopainen said PCCL organizers had arranged to fly the Cobras back to Cebu last Friday, figuring they wouldn’t advance to the finals. PCCL chairman Rey Gamboa admitted the advance booking. But the Cobras defied the odds to become only the second Cebu squad to qualify for the finals since UV, with Greg Slaughter in harness, in 2007.

Now, SWU is two wins away from winning Cebu’s first PCCL crown. The Cobras play La Salle in a best-of-three series starting today at the San Juan Arena. Game 2 will be held tomorrow and Game 3, if necessary, on Thursday.

Alcoseba, who claimed his first and only national crown in 1985 with the University of San Jose Recoletos, is a certified miracle worker. He owes his luck to his patron Sto. Nino and the unconditional support of the SWU family led by Holopainen. When the Cobras won the CESAFI title last year, Alcoseba did the improbable by piloting SWU from 17 points down with seven minutes left to bag the title behind Cameroon import Benoit Mbala in the Game 5 clincher. Mbala is now serving residence at La Salle while former Archers guard Mark Jayven Tallo is leading the charge for the Cobras. Tallo was named this year’s CESAFI regular season MVP.

PBA legend Jojo Lastimosa, who played for Alcoseba on the USJR squad that won the national intercollegiate title in 1985, is expected to be in the stands to cheer for his former coach and SWU today. Lastimosa has been a fixture in the SWU gallery since the start of the PCCL semifinals.

Alcoseba said the key to beating La Salle in the finals is defense. The Cobras will focus on containing Archers top gun Jeron Teng like they did last Monday. Teng was held to 1-of-10 from the field and finished with seven points in 30 minutes. Almond Vosotros, La Salle’s other crack scorer, chipped in only six points on 2-of-10 from the floor.

La Salle coach Juno Sauler said the Archers are only 80 percent of how they were in the UAAP this season. “We’re struggling with injuries,” he said yesterday. “Almond sprained his ankle in practice and Kib (Montalbo) hurt his elbow, also in practice. Arnold (Van Opstal) has a bruised hip and suffers excruciating pain when he gets hit. The guys are also coming off a rest from basketball as they did a lot of make-up work in class after the UAAP season.”

Sauler said since both La Salle and SWU like to run transition, the determining factor is energy. “The team with more energy will outrun the other and that’s critical,” he said. “Getting back on defense in transition and scoring fastbreak baskets will be the focus of both teams. How to beat SWU? We’ve got to stay disciplined in executing our offense. We know SWU likes to press and we’ve got to be prepared with our press break. They switch their defense from man to zone in the press so that’s something we must be prepared to handle.”

Sauler said there’s no doubt that SWU is a quality team. He respects Alcoseba highly for his experience, ability to make adjustments and knowhow in drawing the best from his players. Tallo has something to prove against his previous team and last Monday, stung the Archers with 13 points, six rebounds and six assists. Against FEU, Tallo had 16 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Aside from Tallo, the Cobras will be powered by skipper Monbert Arong, Fil-Canadian spitfire Adams Mohammed, former PBA player Mike Holper’s brother Melvin and Cameroon imports Landry Sanjo and 6-11 Fabrice Siewe.

SWU’s surprise weapon is Holper who didn’t play a single CESAFI game this season. Holper came off the bench to bury 3-of-3 triples, including two in overtime, as he fueled the Cobras’ finishing kick to dispose of La Salle last Monday. Holper, Arong, Tallo and Mohammed combined for seven triples in mowing down FEU last Thursday.

The Archers bounced back from the loss to SWU to crush FEU, 80-60, and edge San Beda, 64-60, to enter the finals. La Salle displayed remarkable resiliency in battling back from a five-point deficit with three minutes left to oust the Red Lions behind Teng, Vosotros and Jason Perkins. But to beat SWU, Sauler will need a total team effort to make up for injuries. That means Norbert Torres, Matt Salem, Thomas Torres, Oda Tampus and Robert Bolick must step up to support Teng and Perkins if Vosotros, Van Opstal and Montalbo aren’t 100 percent.

La Salle won its only PCCL title in 2008-09. Since the league started in 2002, Ateneo has won three championships, UE and FEU two apiece and San Sebastian, UST and La Salle one each. SWU placed fourth in last year’s tournament, losing to San Beda, 64-56, in the battle for third.  The Cobras won the first two games in the CESAFI finals this year, 64-52 and 73-60, then UV rebounded to sweep the next three, 89-82 in double overtime, 71-66 and 64-62 to pocket the crown. Recoiling from the meltdown, Alcoseba avenged the painful setback by repulsing the Lancers in a playoff to enter the PCCL semifinals.