SWU seeks first victory vs. UE in Filoil cagefest

CEBU, Philippines - Reigning CESAFI men's basketball champion Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras hope to bounce back from their opening day loss to the Ateneo Blue Eagles when they go up against the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors in the resumption of the 7th Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup today at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Cobras will face the Red Warriors at 2:30 pm, right after the Jose Rizal University (JRU) Bombers and the San Beda Red Lions collide against each other in the opener set at 12:45 pm.

SWU, the first ever provincial team invited to play in the seven-year history of the prestigious league featuring the country's best collegiate teams, will once again bank on their three African behemoths in Fabrice Siewe, Landry Sanjo and Justin Aboude.

They will be beefed up by Southwestern U's top local gunners in the mold of Bonnie Guillena, Monbert Arong, Bernie Bregondo, Darryl Goloran and John Pajantoy as well as their new recruits Jabe Bautista, Nilton John Otida and Mark Panerio.

In the main match of today's triple-header set at 4:15 pm, Ateneo seeks to carry with it the momentum of its strong opening day showing as it clashes with a newlook San Sebastian Stags.

Led by a smaller, Kiefer Ravena-led and guard-heavy rotation, the Eagles tamed a taller, bigger Southwestern U 77-72, Saturday to set in motion its title campaign in this annual league being used as warm up to their respective collegiate leagues.

"Compared to past years when Ateneo has a taller, bigger lineup, Ateneo is guard heavy this year," said Ateneo coach Bo Perasol, who took over from now Talk 'N Text mentor Norman Black a couple of months back.

Perasol was referring to a Loyola-based team, winner of an amazing five-peat feat, that lost seven-footer Greg Slaughter, who skipped his final year of eligibility, and other big men Nico Salva and Justin Chua to graduation.

Ateneo, however, made up of this by using its speed and athleticism against an SWU squad, champion in the whole of Cebu.

And it was the guard troika of Ravena, Nico Elorde and rookie Fil-Am Chris Newsome who spearheaded the onslaught as the three wound up dominating the stat sheets with 22, 19 and 14 points, respectively.

The high-leaping, muscled and heavily tattooed Newsome, a former US NCAA Division II Mexican Highlands U standout whose mother is a Filipina, awed the crowd with his high-wire acts including one when he completed an alley-oop play from Ravena with a rim-rattling slam dunk.

"I'm really excited because two years of residency is a long time and I learned a lot from Kiefer (Ravena), coach Norman (Black) and the rest of the guys, who kept me from going and push for a goal to win the school another championship," said the 20-year-old Newsome, who added 11 rebounds to his debut.

The Eagles though will be facing a blank wall against San Sebastian, a team mentored by returnee Topex Robinson but will be without its old stars in last year's MVP Ian Sangalang, former MVP Calvin Abueva and Ronald Pascual.--EBV with Philippine STAR News Service (FREEMAN)