THE University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Panthers clawed their way to a 79-66 win over the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats in the 2019 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. men’s basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum on Sunday, September 22, 2019.

The game went back and forth until the fourth canto when USPF went on a 9-2 run at the start to erect a 65-41 lead.

CIT-U pulled to within seven, 63-70, after a midrange jumper by Jesse Aloro but USPF did not take long to answer, with Karl Langahin knocking down a three-pointer in transition to raise the Panthers’ lead to 10, 73-63, with 1:23 remaining.

American wingman Sameen Swint put the Panthers on his shoulders as he scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help USP-F even up its win-loss record at 2-2.

Energetic forward Alje Mendez also completed a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.

The Wildcats, which dropped to 0-4, got 20 points and seven boards from Aloro and 11 points and 13 boards from rookie big man Jan Jabonete. (SunStar Cebu)