Sunday, April 27, 2008 SWU faces UV for VAAA title
THE Southwestern University Cobras nabbed the second finals slot to forge another showdown with powerhouse University of the Visayas Green Lancers in the best-of-three championship series of the 2008 Visayas Amateur Athletic Association (VAAA) basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum last Friday.
The Cobras defeated the stubborn Asian College of Technology (ACT) Cyber Tigers, 82-70, to book the second seat after UV defeated University of San Carlos Warriors, 97-86, in the other semifinal match.
The Cobras were all business from start to finish as the 62nd NSBC Inter-Collegiate champions showed a balanced offensive attack from the inside and outside.
The Cyber Tigers, although shorter and smaller, displayed huge heart as they were able to put a good fight behind the efforts of Elmer Aparice and Joel Vistal. However, the balanced games of center Clefford Maguate, power forward Richard Gianchand, swingman Eric Zanoria and point guard Ardd Evan Django were too much for ACT to handle.
Zanoria topped SWU scorers with 16 markers, Gianchand and Maguate scored 15 each and Django finished with 13 to fill the shoes vacated by starting guard Elvid Poligrates.
Poligrates was resting his sprained right ankle.
Aparice scored the game-high 32 points for the losing Cyber Tigers, while Vistal added 12.
Dondon Nuñez also contributed 10 as ACT aimed for the consolation third place finish against the Warriors at press time last night.
Meanwhile, in the first semifinal, Filipino-American Greg Slaughter and swingman Chad Harlow Villanil each scored 10 points and power forward Michael Luga added six as the UV Green Lancers overcame a sloppy first half with a blistering second half performance to nab the first championship seat.
USC was in control of the game in the first half with forward Eddie Bakker stepping up in the second quarter, scoring 12 of his 16 points to give the Warriors a 47-37 lead at the half.
However, it was quickly erased by the Lancers in the second with Slaughter scoring eight in a 14-2 run that gave UV the lead 51-49.
“Our game plan in the first half was all experimental, we rotated the ball and tried to find our shooters. But their defense was tight, so they were able to lead by that much. But we changed our game plan in the second. I wanted Greg (Slaughter) to get the first position to open our shooters and they delivered. Defensively, we also used our 1-3-1 defense that we never used in previous games. USC failed to solve it,” said UV coach Elmer “Boy” Cabahug after the game.
Jaby Bautista gave the lead back to USC with a three-point play at the 4:22 mark but the Lancers couldn’t be denied as they closed the third quarter with a 69-63 lead. (RCM)
