Former Green Lancer big man leads Ateneo over SWU; UST continues giant-killing ways

Cebuano Greg Slaughter took it upon himself to exact revenge for his former squad as he towed the Ateneo Blue Eagles past the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras, 96-78, in the ongoing semifinal round of the 2012 Philippine Collegiate Champions League, yesterday at the Arena in San Juan City.

Slaughter, a former ace of the University of the Visayas (UV), torched the Cobras in the shaded lane for 18 points, 16 coming in the second half.

The 7-foot behemoth played with a purpose as he was angling for vengeance against the Cobras, which beat his former team the Green Lancers in both the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. finals and the PCCL Southern Islands championship. “That was for you Visayanians,” said Slaughter on his Twitter account immediately after the game.

The game was a nice bounce-back for the Blue Eagles, who lost to UAAP runners-up University of Santo Tomas (UST), 66-76, last Wednesday.

The Tigers continued their champion-killing ways as they downed NCAA titlists San Beda, 63-60, yesterday.

Aljon Mariano unloaded 16 markers, including the Tigers’ last four points to help UST come back from as many as 13 points down.

The Tigers’ 2-0 record in the round-robin semifinals assured them of a finals stint, leaving San Beda and Ateneo to dispute the last championship berth tomorrow. SWU got booted out of contention with its second loss in as many games.

The writing was on the wall early on as the Eagles played determined basketball and got off to a 23-12 lead after the first canto, with Kiefer Ravena putting in six points.

Bad turned to worst for the Cobras in the ensuing period as Ateneo put the pedal to the metal resulting in a 50-31 halftime lead for the Blue Eagles.