The Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras leaned on the unstoppable scoring prowess of their pickups from the PBA D-League to destroy the Asian College of Technology Cyber Knights, 98-85, in the deciding Game 3 and win the championship in the Cebu Basketball Association-M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala Mayor’s Cup Basketball Tournament yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.
Former San Beda stalwart and current DUB Unlimited guard Jessmar Villahermosa together with San Sebastian and Café France point guard Lyle Antipuesto started the party for SWU while former University of Manila gunner Jeff Viernes finished ACT off to help give the Cobras a joyful end to their basketball sojourn this year.
SWU made the finals in the Cesafi this year but succumbed to the University of Cebu Webmasters.
Villahermosa and Antipuesto combined for six of SWU’s seven three-pointers in the first period alone to lead the Cobras to a 35-28 cushion. All in all, the Cobras finished with an astounding 16 makes from behind the three-point arc.
SWU broke the game wide open in the second canto as they started it with a 12-4 rally with Viernes accounting for seven of those points to give the Cobras a commanding 47-32 advantage. ACT sliced the lead into single digits, 46-55, but finished the half on a sour note as Jan Villaver was called for an unsportsmanlike foul off a rebound scrum.
SWU took full advantage as Eleazar Armecin made a free-throw while Viernes added a trey at the buzzer for a 60-46 halftime lead.
The second half gave no rest for the weary Cyber Knights as Antipuesto once more found his mark, first with a fadeaway and then a pull-up jumper that pegged the score at 68-50, with less than six minutes remaining in the third stanza.
Later, another booming three-point bomb by Viernes put the Cobras on top by 20, 83-63, heading to the final stretch.
Viernes put a stamp to his incredible performance by scoring eight straight points. He finished with a game-high 24 points while Villahermosa added 20. Antipuesto tallied 13 and Abby Santos chipped in 12. SWU went home with the P100,000 cash prize.
ACT was paced by the 20 of Stephen Padilla.