Hardly bothered by the pressure of a winner-take-all game, Southwestern University leaned on a fiery start to repulse University of San Carlos, 64-49, Sunday and collar the 2014 Cesafi crown before a huge crowd at Cebu Coliseum.
With Most Valuable Player Mark Tallo and Cameroonian reinforcement Landry Sanjo on the firing end, the Cobras capped their amazing season with an emphatic win over the Warriors and earned the distinction as Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) Overall Southern Islands champion.
The 6-foot-7 Sanjo finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds while Tallo added 19 points and 11 boards in leading the Cobras to their second Cesafi championship in four years.
Atoning for its heartbreaking loss last season to University of Visayas, SWU scored 17 of the game’s first 19 points before unleashing another spurt in the third quarter that took the fight out of the Warriors.
The Cobras and the Warriors have earlier qualified for the Elite Eight phase of the PCCL 2014 National Collegiate Championship.
Also getting outright berths in the Elite Eight are newly crowned UAAP champion National University, UAAP runner-up Far Eastern University and NCAA finalists San Beda and Arellano University. University of Visayas completed the roster of Visayas-Mindanao qualifiers.
Two more regional games are scheduled during the first week of November to determine the teams for the Luzon-Metro Manila leg with the South Luzon-Bicol games set on Nov. 3 and 4 at J.C. Robredo Coliseum in Naga City.
Seeng action in the Naga tournament are the champion teams from Sorsogon, Quezon province, Naga, Tabaco, Batangas, Cavite and Laguna.
The champion teams from Vigan, Baguio-Benguet, Pangasinan, La Union, Pampanga and Zambales will see action in the North-Central Luzon regional games.
Backing the tournament are ABS-CBN, Phoenix Petroleum, Molten Balls, Filoil Flying V Sports, Fog City Creamery and Foccacia. Cedelf P. Tupas