MANILA, Philippines — Southwestern University already had a return flight to Cebu, but the Cobras weren’t planning to go back home just yet.
Cesafi runner-up SWU stunned Far Eastern University with a convincing 86-71 victory Thursday to book a ticket to the finals of the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) next week.
“We already have a ticket tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., I told the boys, we haven’t even arrived yet but they’re already sending us home,” said head coach Yayoy Alcoseba in jest.
SWU became only the second Cebu team next to the Greg Slaughter-led University of Visayas to make to the final round in the national championships.
The visiting Cobras broke the game wide open in the second quarter and leading by as many as 19, 50-31, then fended off all of the Tamaraws’ attempts for a comeback.
SWU, though, was quick to recover from FEU’s flurry of triples that brought the lead down to 10, as the Cobras ended the third with a stable 65-50 lead.
The Tamaraws, who had a splendid run to the final four sans erstwhile stars RR Garcia and Terrence Romeo, tried anew to storm back, this time inching to within 59-67 on a 9-0 run led by Mike Tolomia.
But the Cobras refused to budge and just held on to the lead, as Landry Sanjo, Monbert Arong, Adams Mohammed, Mark Tallo fueled their final attack.
“As I told my players, we just have to hold on. And they delivered and finished the game and we won,” said Alcoseba whose team will face either San Beda or La Salle in the finals.
Arong shone anew with 23 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals for the Cobras while the Cameroonian Sanjo added 19 points and 15 rebounds.
Tallo had another blistering output with 16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals while the Fil-Canadian Mohammed chipped in 15 points, six rebounds and four dimes.
Gryann Mendoza led the Tamaraws, who played sans coach Nash Racela, led with 16 points along with seven rebounds and six assists in his last game in an FEU jersey.
Carl Cruz added 15 while Tolomia, who is expected to take on a bigger role for FEU in the next UAAP season, finished with 14 points, along with seven rebounds and five dimes.