Rodrigue Ebondo Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Rodrigue Ebondo almost had a double-double and Centro Escolar University (CEU) continued its winning ways with an 85-76 victory over Southwestern University (SWU) in the 2015 Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup Saturday at Arena in San Juan City.
Ebondo scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds in just 22 minutes to lead the quarterfinals-bound Scorpions to their seventh win in eight games.
“We still have a long way to go because we still have the quarterfinals,” said CEU head coach Egay Macaraya. “And we can’t afford to lose because it’s a knockout quarters so even if we have a 7-1 record, we have to forget about that because it’s a different game in the quarterfinals.”
Samboy de Leon added 13 points including a pair of 3-pointers for CEU. He sank a triple to put the game away, 85-73, with 52.8 seconds left.
The also-ran Cobras kept it close in the first half but the Scorpions came out with more grit and effort in the second half to squash any signs of an upset.
“I told my players during halftime that SWU is a champion team in the Cesafi. And champion teams have heart and they have the talent to play good basketball. We have to make stops and hit our shots. We have to respect them.”
Boko Mupungo recorded 17 points and 10 rebounds for SWU, which ended its preseason stint with a 2-6 mark. RC