THE Province of Negros Occidental (PoNo) and Globe Asiatique La Salle outrun counterparts as the round robin semifinals matches began in the Class A division of the 10th TKP Memorial Basketball Cup at Pohang gym, Taytung High School.
Province escaped PD8888 Handy Fix, 91-86 behind Joemarie Bayhon’s 29 points, while La Salle recovered from a 13-point deficit in the 1st quarter to down Toyota-CSAB, 89-74.
PD888 started strong in the first quarter with high percentage shots behind the arc nailing 15 points of their 20 points production.
Province rode on the shoulders of Joemarie Bayhon explosive game of 15 points in the second quarter, while PD8888 relied on the inside game of Arnold Laureño with 14 points and Jason Melarin under goal shot tied tying the score at 39-all. However, Bayhon hits a trey with four seconds remaining to give the Province a 42-39 lead at halftime.
A 7-2 opening quarter run by Province was countered by PD8888 to keep within striking distance of 51-48 lead. But a five straight points by Bayhon and a triple by Rodel Canino extended Province’s lead to 67-55 lead with 1:35 left. The quarter ended with a trey from Garrido to boast a 10-point lead at 70-60.
PD8888, however, can only bring down the lead to 9 points with 6:15 left as the Province keeping the lead to 83-70 on Bayhon’s layup with 4:40 remaining.
The free throws of Bayer made a 90-80 notch with 28 seconds left. But as the time winding up, two successive treys of Handy Fix Robbie Jalando-on cut the score at 91-86 with 6 seconds left.
On the other hand, lying behind front men Jornel Laborte and Paul Hechanova low post attacks, Toyota-CSAB got a 27-18 1st quarter advantage over La Salle.
Toyota remained on top in the second quarter posting a 42-34 mark with 2:30 mark when La Salle full court pressure and surprise traps started to pay dividends as they launched a 9-2 closing quarter run to cut the lead at the break 44-43.
Toyota led started the 3rd quarter including the back to back hits by Jun Jun Lastimosa posting a 60-58 lead for Toyota with 2:20 left, but another 7-2 closing quarter of La Salle quintet gave them the 65-62 advantage at the buzzer.
With momentum on the La Salle side the trio of Baydo, Calma and Scot Salvacion engineered a 10-3 run for a 75-65 cushion at the seven minute mark and eventually closing the match.
Games today: (1st Game) Pag-IBIG Fund vs Mitzu Motors (2nd Game) Terra Dolce vs Foodman. (With Stephen Tan/Scoop-Bacolod)