Monday, March 19, 2007 Cobra’s sting Jaguars By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE Skygo-Southwestern University Cobras never ceases to pull out surprises as it forged yet another semifinals rubber match in the Partners Cup basketball tournament.
The Cobras defeated top-seed Virginia-University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars in a heart-stopping 79-76 encounter yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
Reaching this point in the competition has not been easy for rookie team SWU. Before entering the semifinal round, it had to overturn the twice-to-beat advantage of highly touted Hapee-Universty of San Carlos, beating them twice to snag an entry to the semis.
Yesterday, it bounced back from its game 1 loss to the Jaguars in the best-of-three semifinals.
They are only the second team to have beaten the Jaguars in the tournament.
In the game, SWU, despite playing minus a pointguard, managed to ward off the gritty Jaguars in the final stretch.
Lagging behind the entire first half, the Jaguars were able to take the lead in the third frame, 52-50, when the Jaguars scorched the three point lane, with Jessmar Villahermosa scoring all six of his marks from that area.
USJ-R went further, 54-51, behind back-to-back baskets from Luther Justiniani. That was the last lead the Jaguars tasted as the Cobras initiated an 8-0 run to end the penultimate period, 59-54.
In the final period, Mariano Canonigo then donned the hero's cape as he slipped past the USJ-R defenses to dominate the shaded lane, and further pad his team's lead.
In the final ticks, the Jaguars came close to stealing the game away from the Cobras, 76-77, when Eric Zanoria sank the game's last basket at the eight-second mark.
With time running out, the Jaguars' could have made a quick three-pointer to equalize and force for overtime, but at the inbound, SWU's Alfred Belande intercepted USJ-R man Bobby Hatague’s pass to erase the Jaguars hopes of a series sweep.
The series is tied at 1-all. The do-or-die third game will be on Sunday.
Belande and Canonigo led SWU scorers, as they scattered 19 an 16 points respectively. Chris Lotirja added 12. Luther Justiniani led the loser's cause with a game-high 21 markers.
