Defending champion Webmasters escape gritty SWU Cobras in overtime for 2-0 lead

The University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters are just one win away from repeating as champions in the seniors division of the 2011 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc.  basketball tournament as they survived the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras in overtime, 91-84, in Game 2 of the best-of-five finals series late Monday night at the Cebu Coliseum.

Showing the grit, persistence and veteran smarts of a true champion, the Webmasters pounced on the Cobras’ inefficiency from the freethrow line and their own crunch-time shooting to force overtime.

There, they took advantage of the fouling out of SWU’s 6-foot-7 Cameroonian center Justin Aboude by continually feeding their own giant, 6-foot-10 center Junemar Fajardo for easy baskets, which paved the way for the crucial win.

UC took Game 1, 87-84, and appeared to be on their way to the easy win as they controlled the game for the first three periods and at one point, even led by 14 points, 58-44.

Things appeared bleak for the Cobras as their frustrations boiled over in the form of consecutive technical fouls that were called on head coach Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba and  Rene Pacquiao.

The score at the end of the third canto reflected SWU’s desperation as they found themselves down by nine, 52-63.

However, the Cobras  recovered as wingman Bon Guillena and Aboude conspired for a 10-2 rally that sliced the deficit down to a single point, 63-64. Joseph Nalos added to UC’s troubles as he scored seven straight points  that put them on top, 73-68, with 2:59 left.

But UC’s championship poise kicked in as Brian Heruela scored on an easy layup and was followed by a banker by Fajardo that got them within one, 74-75, with 48.1 seconds left. Luigi Bercede eventually tied the game at 75-all as he split his free-throw with nine ticks remaining.

Both squads had a chance each to win the game but Aboude missed on his layup attempt while Heruela was off on his fadeaway at the buzzer.

Fajardo scored seven in overtime and ended up with 23 to lead the way for UC.