Wednesday, June 18, 2008 USJ-R’s veterans pull trick vs. SWU
THE UNIVERSITY of San Jose-Recoletos Jaguars drew its strength from their veteran players to subdue the hard-fighting Southwestern University Cobras by sweeping the best-of-three championship series following an 84-79 victory in Game 2 Monday night at the Cebu Coliseum.
Coach Edito Salacot found Gabe Stuart Delfino his lucky charm as the 6-foot-3 forward held his grounds against the taller SWU bigmen to lead the Jaguars with 17
points.
“I am just lucky I guess because my veteran players were there to step up when their contributions were needed,” Salacot told reporters after the game.
Performance
Aside from Delfino, Manny Gabas and John Malinao also broke loss after a so-so performance in Game 1 together with the other veterans Arman Ponce and Lyndon Gudes who all scored in double-digit.
For the Cobras it was their immaturity that cost them the victory as most of their shots were hurried taken or ill advised.
SWU however managed to comeback from a double-digit deficit most of the time, the last time as on the final 17.1 seconds of the game when everybody was giving up on the Cobras.
Downed 66-77 in the final 1:42 of the game, the Cobras pulled a stunning 13-3 run while holding the Jaguars without a field goal the rest of the way.
Survival
However, Ponce’s six-of-six free throw shooting in the final 36.1 seconds of the game helped the Jaguars survived the game.
USJ-R pocketed P50,000 worth of sports equipment from tournament sponsor ML Kwarta Padala while SWU went home with P30,000.
