Morale boosted

SHOOTING guard Monbert Arong had a breakout game as he scored the game high 31 points, highlighted by six triples, to lead the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras to a morale-boosting 101-74 win over the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats in the 2012 Cesafi College Basketball action last night at the Cebu Coliseum.

In the high school game, Mark Christian Kong scored the game high 33 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter to lead the CIT-U Wildkittens to a 72-68 come-from-behind victory over the University of San Carlos (USC) Baby Warriors.

Arong’s performance was the kind of game that coach Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba needed as they are about to engage in a dog-fight against the undefeated University of the Visayas Green Lancers, who have more weapons and are enjoying a slight advantage in height and size.

The much awaited SWU-UV game is on Sunday, Aug. 26, at the University of San Carlos Gym.

Aside from scoring points, Arong also showed brilliance in the other department as he grabbed nine rebounds, dished out three assists, had two steals and made two blocks, complementing Benoit Mbala’s another monster performance.

Mbala scored 26 points and were coupled with 13 rebounds and two blocks.

SWU’s imposing advantage over the smaller Wildcats was evident as early the first 10 minutes when the Cobras built a 24-13 lead.

CIT-U tried but its halfcourt 2-2-1 trapping defense was not effective all the time while its zone defense was also broke with Mbala earning his points despite being clobbered by the swarming Wildcats.

Wildcats coach Gilbert Demape had to use all his players in order to give his team fresh legs all the time but unfortunately their efforts in trying to stop Mbala and Justin Aboude lead to many fouls that over-extended the game.

The closest the Wildcats could afford was at 23-30 on Axel Rabaya’s triple at the 7 minutes mark of the second as SWU marched to its second win in four games. CIT-U
dropped to 1-3.

Allan Dimco and Jeffrey Taghoy lead CIT-U scorers with 15 points each, Franklyn Batiquin finished with 12 and Rabaya contributed with 11 points.