San Beda vs SWU

Games today:

Cebu Coliseum

4 p.m. – UE vs. UV (for third)

6 p.m. – MLKP-SWU vs. San Beda (championship)

The M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras showed they can win just as well with their local players as they got past the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers, 76-67, in the last day of the elimination round in the MLKP Sinulog Cup yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.

The Cobras put an emphatic stamp to their entry to the championship game with their third straight win in the tournament.

They turned to their veteran leaders Ian Saladaga and Abby Santos of the MLKP-Cebu Niños and PBA D-Leaguer Mar Villahermosa to hack out the win in crunchtime.

SWU also beat the NCAA champions San Beda Red Lions, late Saturday evening,  86-81.

But San Beda will have a chance to redeem itself after it managed to book a finals seat following the Red Lions’ 79-67 win over the University of the East (UE) later last night.

Both teams renew their rivalry tonight at the same venue. UE and UV will fight for third place.

Villahermosa topscored for the Cobras with 17 while Saladaga added 14. The Lancers, which finished the tournament without a single win, got 13 from Jerome Silva and 12 from Chris Perolino.

The Cobras started strong but allowed UV to take the lead briefly at 40-39. Saladaga came to the rescue by scoring eight straight points to restore the lead and SWU would hang on to that until the final buzzer.