SWU makes finals

Games Thursday:
Cebu Coliseum
(For Third Place)
5:15 p.m. – CEC vs. USPF (jrs.)
6:45 p.m. – UV vs. USC (srs.)

The Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras made it to the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc  seniors division finals following their 74-53 win over the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers in a highly heated semifinal match late Tuesday that ended in an ugly and bloody near-riot at the Cebu Coliseum.

The win put the Cobras in the finals for the first time since they joined the league eight years ago.  SWU will face the reigning champions University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters in the best-of-five finals, which kicks off with Game 1 this Saturday at the same venue.

The do-or-die game between the two schools ended in a mess and was eventually called off by commissioner Felix “Boy” Tiukinhoy with 54.9 seconds remaining in the game and SWU ahead, 74-53, after Edrian Lao incited the fracas with a flagrant elbow to the side of the head of Cobras’ wingman Eleazar Armecin, who was cutting through the lane.

After he was called for an unsportsman-like foul, Lao threw a haymaker of a punch towards SWU guard Junrey Ortuyo, who fortunately evaded the swing.

Pandemonium ensued not long after as both teams emptied their benches and bottles were thrown to the floor from all over the venue.

The incident was one of many that marred the otherwise incredible performance by the Cobras, which bounced back after losing their twice-to-beat advantage last week by virtue of UV’s 73-67 win last Thursday.

Belano and UV guard John Abad were the first to get ejected with 4:29 left in the match. Abad, the Lancers’ fiery lefty gunner, was assessed an unsportsmanlike foul and was thrown out of the match after he punched Armecin in the stomach as the latter was leaking out for a breakaway.

Afterwards, Belano charged the referee and went toe-to-toe with him, thus meriting an ejection.  Later, UV wingman Phil Mercader was also sent to the showers with 1:53 left after some unnecessary roughness on Ortuyo. Junard Premacio was also charged with an unsportmanlike foul not long after for a hard foul on SWU forward Rene Pacquiao.

Also, a referee was left bloodied as he was hit by a projectile thrown from the UV crowd as he was on his way back to the dugout after the match.

The incidents overshadowed the performances of Armecin, Bon Guillena, Ortuyo and Justin Aboude, who spearheaded the breakaway in the second half with their outside sniping and all-out hustle. Armecin finished with 23 points while Guillena added 17. Ortuyo and Aboude chipped in 12 and 11, respectively.

Tiukinhoy quickly moved in with suspensions on the erring parties with Lao, Mercader, Rene Saycon, Abad and Belano being meted out with one-game suspensions each.