THE Southwestern University-Phinma Cobras stung the Cebu Institute of Technology-University Wildcats, 87-53, at the start of the 2018 Cesafi men’s basketball tournament, on Saturday night at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Cobras asserted their superiority early and often as they led, 16-5, after the first period before bumping it up to 25, 46-21, at halftime.
The second half offered more of the same as the Cobras kept on making shots led by new recruit Red Cachuela from Cagayan de Oro and star wingman Shaquille Imperial.
The Wildcats on the other hand, could not get anything going as prized rookie find Kenny Rogers Rocacurva was held in check.
SWU-Phinma head coach, Mike Reyes, credited the team’s defense, particularly on Rocacurva, who impressed in the preseason Partner’s Cup. Reyes revealed that they practiced defending CIT’s offensive sets for an entire week.
“Pinag-praktisan talaga namin ang opensa ng CIT-U. Sa Partners’ Cup, we noticed that they had trouble bringing the ball up so we wanted to take advantage of that,” said the Cobras’ veteran mentor.
“And we wanted to limit (Kenny) Rocacurva. And we succeeded in doing that,” he added.
Imperial led the Cobras with 21 points while Cachuela, had a fantastic debut with 19 markers. Reeve Ugsang chipped in 11.
Rocacurva collected 19 points.
In the high school division, the CIT-U Wildkittens made up for their older counterparts’ failure by debuting in victorious fashion, defeating the SWU-Phinma Baby Cobras, 74-51.
Vincent Bugtai led the way for the Wildkittens, a team that last tasted the title in 2009 when current PBA player Macmac Tallo was still playing for them, with 13 points while Sol Tirol scored 12 points.
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