Cobras forge Game 5

CEBU, Philippines - The Southwestern University (Cobras) pulled off a 67-65 squeaker over the defending champion University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters to forge a deciding Game 5 in the seniors finals of the 11th Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) basketball season at the Cebu Coliseum.

Games tomorrow

(Cebu Coliseum)

Game 5, Finals

5:15 pm SHS-AdC vs. UV (jrs.)

6:45 pm UC vs. SWU (srs.)

A short jumper by Bonifacio Guillena gave the Cobras a 66-63 edge with only 1:48 left in the contest and that came to be the turning point of their series-tying victory.

So solid the Cobras' defense was that they held UC's 6-foot-9 Junemar Fajardo scoreless in the fourth period. Fajardo went on to finish with 15 points.

Down by just two points with only seven seconds remaining, 65-67, the Webmasters had a chance to send the game into overtime but Quinton Brian Heruela flubbed his attempts as the gameclock expired.

Rene Pacquiao paced the Cobras with 15 points, while Bonifacio Guillena and Justin Aboude chipped in 11 and 10 markers, respectively.

The Webmasters led for the last time on Luigi Bercede's free throws, 60-59 at the 4:29 mark of the final canto.

Tomorrow's twin sudden-death matches mark for the first time that the series go through its full route since the best-of-five format was introduced four years ago.

The scores

SWU (67) - Pacquiao 15, Guillena 11, Aboude 10, Armecin 9, Nalos 9, Arong 6, Ortuyo 4, Pineda 2

UC (65) - Fajardo 15, Heruela 12, Bercede 11, Mohammad 10, Pao 9, Ampoon 4, Auditor 2, Batino 2 Halftime: 35-33 (FREEMAN)