Southwestern University’s (SWU) woes continued as the Cobras lost their fourth game in a row and remained winless in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Preseason Cup after they got bested by the San Sebastian Stags, 73-84,yesterday at the Arena in San Juan City.
The losses of their stars, namely Calvin Abueva, Ronald Pascual and Ian Sangalang, did little to dampen the spirits of the Stags as they took advantage of the Cobras’ whopping 31 turnovers with quick points off fastbreak opportunities.
The Stags evened their record out at 1-1 (win-loss) while the Cobras fell to a league-worst 0-4 slate.
Jon Rebollos, Raffy Gusi and Leo de Vera anchored San Sebastian’s attack in the first half that saw the Stags net a 49-38 lead off a 10-0 blast.
Rebollos, in particular, was lethal during that stretch with 13 points. He eventually had 20 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.
The Cobras put up a fight in the fourth canto as they whittled down the deficit to just five, 65-70, after back-to-back three-pointers by Mark Panerio and Melvin Holper.
However, turnovers continued to hound SWU and proved to be the team’s downfall as Rebollos hit his final three of the contest for a 78-67 lead with under four minutes to play.
De Vera finished with 18 points while Jovit dela Cruz added 13 markers.
Cameroonian import Landry Sanjo had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Cobras while Holper had 15.
Monbert Arong added 12 points, six rebounds and three assists but once again had trouble handling the ball, committing five turnovers.