The Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras left an unforgettable impression, most of all upon the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers as they upset the UAAP runners-up, 64-63, in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Preseason Cup yesterday at the Arena in San Juan City.
Ranged against the Philippine Collegiate Champions League titlists and still grappling with the news of the resignation of head coach Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba last Friday, the Cobras were in dire straits.
However, they rose to the occasion and came up with their finest performance to date, as they held the potent Tigers offense to subpar numbers en route to their third win in eight games. UST dropped to their second loss in three outings.
Melvin Holper, brother of former pro Mike, came up with huge baskets near the end including the difference-making three and a layup that put SWU on top 62-59.
SWU pushed its lead further after split freethrows by Monbert Arong and Adam Mohammed.
UST, though, kept fighting and were within one after a trey by Kevin Ferrer. The Tigers even had a chance to tie the match but the normally-reliable Jeric Teng missed one of two shots from the stripe.
UST had one last chance at the win after Arong was called for a traveling violation with 10 seconds left. But Ferrer missed on a three-pointer as time expired.
“I credit that win to the good defense that we played,” said SWU assistant coach Mike Reyes. “When we came here, my main concern was to defend. And I guess it showed that we were able to defend one-on-one.”
Arong paced SWU with 16 points while Cameroonian Landry Sanjo had 11 points and 14 rebounds. Holper finished with 10 and Mohammed added nine.
Ferrer topscored for UST with 12 points while Karim Abdul chipped in 12.