Monday, July 14, 2008 Pagadian, Taguig make Liga finals
THE Pagadian Explorers and the Taguig Batang Global made it through the finals of the Zamboanga Leg of the 2008 Liga Pilipinas Championships Tour elimination at the Zamboanga City Gym.
The Explorers handed home team Zamboanga Amores its fourth consecutive defeat, 89-79, while Taguig breezed through Ilocos Sur Bravehearts with a 97-88 win.
This is Pagadian’s third appearance to the Leg finals while it’s the second for Taguig.
Whoever wins the battle, which was being played at press time, will take over the league leadership from the idle M. Lhuillier-Cebu Niños.
The Niños took the lead of the Liga Pilipinas after winning the first two legs of the country’s newest regional basketball tournament.
Mark Yee again had a monster game for the Explorers as the former San Sebastian College-Recoletos de Cavite Baycat put on another double-double, scoring 21 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.
Yee also had three assists and five shotblocks to inch closer to another Best Player of the Leg award.
However, it was center Erian Daja who scored the highest point of the game with 26. Ex-pro Peter Naron made his first breakout game for the Amores as he scored 19 points on top of 17 rebounds, three assists, one steal and two shotblocks but it all went for naught as Pagadian went 35-of-78 from the field (45 percent) against the 28-of-69 (41 percent) shooting of the host.
Meanwhile, Taguig Batang Global went 18-of-47 from the three point line to beat the Bravehearts.
Over in Lipa City, Batangas, Tagaytay-Cavite Heroes stunned Baguio Victory, 91-79, while home team Lipa Barakos stomped on the Iloilo Mang Inasals, 96-76. (RCM)
