Terra Dulce/Jollibee barge into semifinals

NUMBER 3 Terra Dolce/Jollibee 90/91/92 cruised to its 4th straight semifinals appearance, defeating No. 6 Eleven Degrees 96/97/98 71-60, while New Energy/Shakey's 2008/10/11 pulled through against Waterfull/Celcor 93/94/95 72-68 in the 5thSJI Alumni Basketball Friendship Cup played at the Msgr. John Liu Activities Center.

Waterfull established a 12-6 lead in the 1st quarter, but New Energy shifted to a full court man-to-man defense that immediately produced dividends as they closed the quarter on a 10-0 run for a 16-12 advantage.

Michael Ang and Julius Teruel joined hands in the 2nd quarter for 17 points as Celcor grabbed the lead anew at 37-28. Shakey's scored 5 straight points, including a trey from Ralph Geraldoy, just before the quarter ended to draw closer at 37-33. Jappy Cuaycong had 9 points for Shakey's in the quarter.

New Energy quickened the pace of the game to score on fastbreak opportunities while Waterfull relied on their set plays and 3-point shooting to stay on top at 54-53 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

New Energy immediately moved in front at the start of the payoff quarter and held on to a 62-59 lead with 4:43 left in the game.

A Charles Del Castillo follow-up and a triple by Allen Dionela gave Shakey's its biggest lead at 68-59.

As Shakey's started to miss their outside shots, Waterfull was able to rally, as Vincent Javelosa's penetration produced 4 points and Christian Castro's 2 free throws cut the deficit to 68-65 with 1:24 left.

Celcor cut the lead further to a single digit on a Julius Teruel free throw 40 seconds later but Dionela, who finished with 10 points in the quarter, came off a screen by Daniel Ong to sink a 12-footer for a 4-point lead.

Castro cut the lead to 70-68 with 4 ticks left and Del Castillo sealed the semis seat of Shakey's with 2 free throws.

Charles Del Castillo paced New Energy with 19 points, Dionela hit 15 markers, Mark Coo shot 12 points Jappy Cuaycong made 9 points and Luigi Coo had 6 points.

Javelosa finished with 16 pts in a losing effort. Ang picked up 14 points, Teruel scored 13 points, Mark ONg and Castro delivered 8 points apiece.

Terra Dolce posted a double digit lead of 24-13 in the 1st quarter behind a balanced offensive led by Peewee Demonteverde and Bol Manaloto's 6 points each while Eleven relied on Tim Garrucho and Dino Tongco with 6 points apiece.

11 Degrees' offense continued to sputter in the 2nd quarter, as they can only manage 6 points. Terra Dolce scored 16 points as the lead extended to 40-19 at the break.

Manaloto scored 10 points in the 3rd canto to keep Jollibee ahead at 58-40, even as Garrucho and Berto Uy combined for 17 points for Eleven Degrees.

In the payoff quarter, Jollibee continued to take a double digit lead while 11 Degrees made a late push to cut the deficit to its lowest margin of 11 points.

Terra Dolce was led by Manaloto with 20 points, backstopped by Demonteverde with 18 points, Dominic Ciocon had 8 points and Toffel Tan delivered 6 points.

Garrucho picked up 21 points, Berto Uy delivered 15 points, Daniel Tan added 11 points and Tongco contributed 10 points.

The top 2 teams will see action tonight (Thursday), as No. 2 Phoenix 1999/2k go up against Petron 2001/02/12 in the curtain raiser at 630 pm while No. 1 Ceres Pasalubong is expected to prevail over the No. 9 Legends/2009 in the 8 pm tussle.

Both Ceres and Phoenix will have a twice to beat advantage.

Terra Dolce/Jollibee will meet the winner of Phoenix and Petron while Shakey's will play the victor of the Ceres and Legends/2009 on October 9. (Stephen Tan/Contributor)