Upstarts take on favorites in Filoil semis

MANILA, Philippines – A budding rivalry. A team gunning for respect against the king of the hill.

The Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup started out with 21 seniors teams and is now down to four. If anything, all four semifinalists represent different leagues – Southwestern University for CESAFI, La Salle for the UAAP, Centro Escolar University for NAASCU, and San Beda carrying the torch for the NCAA – and speak highly of the expansion of the Filoil Cup into unchartered territory. SWU is a finalist of last season’s PCCL and CESAFI. La Salle, CEU, and San Beda are all champions of their respective leagues.

SWU and La Salle battle at 2 p.m. Friday at the San Juan Arena. The Cebu-based Cobras have been somewhat joined at the hip by La Salle ever since the Green Archers’ acquisition of SWU’s African player, Ben MBala a year ago. They have battled five times in the past year with the Green Archers taking four of those games including last year’s Philippine Collegiate Champions League.

The Cobras would love nothing more than to derail their new rival by sending them packing. But that will not be easy against a La Salle team that is now complete with the return of Thomas Torres and Kib Montalbo from injury bay. The reigning UAAP champions flexed their muscles by taking down hitherto undefeated FEU in the quarterfinals.

However, DLSU head coach Juno Sauler downplayed his team’s chances and current state by saying the team “is about 75 percent from where we want to be.”

The main game of the Friday double-header will pit the surprising CEU Scorpions against the resilient San Beda Red Lions at 4 p.m. CEU, with its team of no-stars has found ways to win by tripping its much-ballyhooed foes in the endgame. San Beda bounced back from a loss to FEU at the conclusion of the elimination round then survived a last ditch rally by NU to enter the semis.

“Definitely, we will not take them for granted,” said SBC coach Boyet Fernandez of CEU that is 7-0 in the tournament. “Hindi rin biro yung mga tinalo nila. Hopefully, we will be up to the task.”

The winners of the semifinals will battle on Sunday, June 8. Tickets to the matches are available at SM TicketNet and at the San Juan Arena.