SWU beats Akira-SCSIT, keeps semis hopes alive

The Southwestern University Cobras inched closer towards making the semifinal round as they downed the reigning champions Akira-Salazar Colleges of Science and Institute of Technology Skyblazers, 91-84, yesterday in the final elimination round playdate of the Cebu Basketball Association-M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala Mayor’s Cup at the Cebu Coliseum.

The Cobras leaned on the outstanding outside sniping of high-scoring guard Jeff Viernes to hack out their second win in a row after losing two straight.

SWU also won over the ThreeSixty Pharmacy, 111-84, the other night as they finished the round with a 3-2 (win-loss) record, the same with Akira.

Still, the fate of SWU with regards to the next round remains murky as they are awaiting the results of the remaining games between the Asian College of Technology Cyber Knights and ThreeSixty, and Rollway Customs Brokerage and Ave Maria Sanctuary and Park. Those games were still being played in as of this writing.

After a close first period, the Cobras broke the game wide open in the second canto where Viernes, a guard from the University of Manila in the NAASCU and Café France in the PBA D-League, exploded for a whopping 17 points spiked by five three-point bombs that helped them open up a 53-36 lead at halftime.

The Cobras continued to pour it on as the lead exceeded 20 on several occasions.

However, Akira made the game interesting in the fourth period as they trimmed the deficit down to seven, 91-84, with a little over a minute remaining, thanks to the makes of Dale Singson and Mark Abadia. But time ran out on Akira as SWU hacked out the crucial victory.

Jessmar Villahermosa added 16 while Giovanni Padillo chipped in with 13 for the Cobras. Abadia produced 27 for Akira.

In the final game the other night, ACT evened out their record at 2-2 with an 82-66 come-from-behind win over Rollway.